AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 315 



proportion, the scene of bustle which it presents may be 

 readily conceived. 



Though such is the love of wasps for their young, that if 

 their nest be broken almost entirely in pieces they will not 

 abandon it^ yet when the cold weather approaches, a melan- 

 choly change ensues, followed by a cruel catastrophe, which 

 at first you will be apt to regard as ill comporting with this 

 affectionate character. As soon as the first sharp frost of 

 October has been felt, the exterior of a wasp's nest becomes a 

 perfect scene of horror. The old wasps drag out of the cells 

 all the grubs and unrelentingly destroy them, strewing their 

 dead carcasses around the door of their now desolate habitation. 

 " What monsters of cruelty ! " I hear you exclaim, " what de- 

 testable barbarians ! " But be not too hasty. When you have 

 coolly considered the circumstances of the case, you will view 

 this seemingly cruel sacrifice in a different light. The old 

 wasps have no stock of provisions : the benumbing hand of 

 Winter is about to incapacitate them from exertion; while 

 the season itself affords no supply. What resource then is 

 left ? Their young must linger on a short period, suffering 

 aU the agonies of hunger, and at length expire. They have 

 it in their power at least to shorten the term of this misery 

 — to cut off its bitterest moments. A sudden death by their 

 own hands is comparatively a merciful stroke. This is the 

 only alternative ; and thus, in fact, this apparent ferocity is 

 the last effort of tender affection, active even to the end of 

 life. I do not mean to say that this train of reasoning ac- 

 tually passes through the mind of the wasps. It is more 

 correct to regard it as having actuated the benevolent Author 

 of the instinct so singularly, and without doubt so wisely, 

 excited. Were a nest of wasps to survive the winter, they 

 would increase so rapidly, that not only would all the bees, 

 flies, and other animals on which they prey, be extirpated, 

 but man himself find them a grievous pest. It is necessary, 

 therefore, that the great mass should annually perish; but 

 that they may suffer as little as possible, the Creator, mindful 

 of the happiness of the smallest of his creatures, has endowed 



1 Reaum. vi. 174. 



