PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 349 
are more worthy of praise than the queen-bee: since upon the latter, 
from her very first appearance in the perfect state, no labour devolves — 
all her wants being prevented by a host of workers, some of which are 
constantly attending upon her, feeding her, and permitting her to suffer no 
fatigue; while others take every step that is necessary for the safety and 
subsistence of the colony. Not so our female wasp ;—she is at first an 
insulated being that has had the fortune to survive the rigours of winter. 
When in the spring she lays the foundation of her future empire, she has 
not a single worker at her disposal ; with her own hands and teeth she 
often hollows out a cave wherein she may lay the first foundations of her 
paper metropolis ; she must herself build the first houses, and produce 
from her own womb their first inhabitants, which in their infant state she 
must feed and educate, before they can assist her in the great design. At 
length she receives the reward of her perseverance and labour; and from 
being a solitary unconnected individual, in the autumn is enabled to rival 
the queen of the hive in the number of her children and subjects, and in 
the edifices which they inhabit—the number of cells in a vespiary some- 
times amounting to more than 16,000, almost all of which contain either 
an egg, a grub, or a pupa, and each cell serving for three generations in a 
year; which, after making every allowance for failures and other casualties, 
will give a population of at least 30,000. Even at this time, when she has 
so numerous an army of coadjutors, the industry of this creature does not 
cease, but she continues to set an example of diligence to the rest of the 
community. Ifby any accident, before the other females are hatched, the 
queen-mother perishes, the neuters cease their labours, lose their instincts, 
and die. 
The number of females in a populous vespiary is considerable, amounting 
to several hundred ; they emerge from the pupa about the latter end of 
August, at the same time with the males, and fly in September and October, 
when they pair. Of this large number of females, very few survive the 
winter. ‘Those that are so fortunate remain torpid till the vernal sun 
recalls them to life and action. They then fly forth, collect provision for 
their young brood, and are engaged in the other labours necessary for lay- 
ing the foundation of their empire; but in the summer months they are 
never seen out of the nest. 
The male wasps are much smaller than the female, but they weigh as 
much as two workers. Their antenne are longer than those of either, not, 
like theirs, thicker at the end, but perfectly filiform ; and their abdomen is 
distinguished by an additional segment. Their numbers about equal those 
of the females, and they are produced at the same time. ‘They are not so 
wholly given to pleasure and idleness as the drones of the hive. They do 
Not, indeed, assist in building the nest, and in the care of the young brood ; 
but they are the scavengers of the community ; for they sweep the passages 
and streets, and carry off all the filth. They also remove the bodies of the 
dead, which are sometimes heavy burdens for them; in which case two 
Unite their strength to accomplish the work ; or, if a partner be not at 
hand, the wasp thus employed cuts off the head of the defunct, and so 
effects its purpose. As they make themselves so useful, they are not, like 
the male bees, devoted by the workers to an universal massacre when 
the impregnation of the females, the great end of their creation, is an- 
swered ; but they share the general lot of the community, and are suffered 
to survive till the cold cuts off them and the workers together. 
