6650 



Insects. 



After a very violent demonstration on the part of the wasps one sultry- 

 afternoon, their numbers were reduced by twelve, caught in the usual 

 way by the tube ; but this was the last reduction which they needed. 

 Henceforth the numbers seemed insufficient for the duties of the 

 nest ; and, a sudden change of weather adding to their other misfor- 

 tunes, the active exertions of the whole colony seemed paralyzed. 



They were transferred to a new case, where they were better pro- 

 tected from the rain ; but they seemed feeble, and now they fed on 

 anything which was placed for them outside the nest, while when in 

 full vigour they had rarely if ever touched anything laid in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood. Two wasps in particular, smaller than the 

 rest, were actively employed in filling themselves with honey and 

 flying into the nest, and from their frequent re-appearance T thought 

 they must be employed in feeding the weaker wasps, which did not 

 venture out. 



It does not require a very long observation of wasps to feel that 

 the general opinion concerning them is not strictly just. We know 

 them mostly as voracious creatures, spoiling our fruit, threatening us 

 in our beer, and on cold days crawling up the legs of our trowsers or 

 getting into our slippers. We see them in our windows, the tyrants 

 of the pane, if we spare them long enough, cutting up flies and 

 daddy-longlegs, and dancing about with the dismembered trunks. 

 But we must observe them in their nests to learn their better quali- 

 ties, — their affection for their young, and their untiring industry. 

 They do not idolize their queen as bees do, but they never neglect 

 her, and always bring food iuto the nest for her. With caution and 

 practice they may be managed to a certain extent, though their less 

 close relation to their queen deprives us of that authority over them 

 which we may exercise over bees. On fitting occasions they are very 

 ready with their stings, but these are rarely used in the nest even in 

 anger. The jaw was the favourite instrument of offence with which 

 they assailed strange wasps, and with which they met the attacks of 

 any wires when I wanted to do anything to the nest. I fear, how- 

 ever, that it might not be always safe to calculate on this habitual 

 preference of their jaws when one's fingers are concerned. 



Difference of size is very characteristic of the Hymenoptera, and 

 is not therefore entirely to be connected with difference of age. But 

 1 think it may be said generally that the younger the fully-developed 

 wasps are the larger they are ; and, in connexion with this, it is 

 worthy of observation that the task of building is entrusted almost 

 exclusively to the larger wasps, as if, with their younger organs, they 



