Insects. 



6649 



female brought from Gloucestershire having died on the journey. 

 Under whatever form of government, V. britannica seems much more 

 vigilant and irritable than V. germanica, for in a nest of these I did 

 not notice any regular system of watching. The wasps which per- 

 formed the part of sentinels were commonly crippled in their wings, 

 and very crabbed in their tempers. They ran over the nest instead 

 of staying at the door, and seemed rather to hinder than to regulate 

 the stream of business. But, to the credit of the working part of this 

 swarm, it should be said that the crippled wasps were as fat and well 

 fed as the rest ; and though V. germanica be not as vigilant as 

 V. britannica, yet it is directed by the same instinct. The workers 

 fly straight out and straight in again, and never straggle near home. 

 I hope my wasps were no trouble to any one else ; they were never 

 seen or heard of inside my own house, except when they entered it 

 in pursuit of their master on some excessive provocation. 



I believe that societies of wasps have no other law than the neces- 

 sity of the case, except where the love of their young or such-like 

 instincts are concerned. So in my small colony of V. britannica, 

 where one opening was sufficient they made no more, but used this 

 one for ingress and egress alike, contrary to what has been reported 

 of larger swarms. 



Besides those passing out on business, from time to time a wasp 

 appeared at the door-way, merely to discharge her excretions, with 

 which the floor of the box was generally wet. This was, as one might 

 expect, most commonly observed in rainy weather, when the workers 

 stayed more at home. The cleanly habits of these wasps contrasted 

 strongly with those of a nest of V. germanica which I had at the 

 same time in confinement ; but it was the circumstance of living 

 underground in the first instance, and subsequently of their confine- 

 ment, which determined this, and not the nature of the wasps them- 

 selves ; for nothing could be cleaner than a deserted nest of V. ger- 

 manica which was brought me from a roof at Warbleton. I have on 

 several occasions analyzed these excretions, but found no sugar in 

 them, even when the insects lived entirely on honey. In this latter 

 case they were composed of uric acid ; but this is not always a con- 

 stituent of the excretions of wasps. 



On the 7th of August the drones began to make their appearance, 

 but [ looked in vain for any queens ; though the numbers kept up, 

 and indeed, for the safety of my neighbours, who might not feel so 

 great an interest in wasps as I did, needed occasional reducing ; and 

 still, till September 4th, grubs of different sizes were thrown out daily, 

 xvn. 2 x 



