24 PLray S NATUEAL HISTOET. [Book XI. 
covered over with dung. Yirgil also says' ^ that this may be done 
with the body of a young bull, in the same way that the car- 
case of the horse produces wasps and hornets, and that of the 
ass beetles, J^'ature herself elFecting these changes of one sub- 
stance into another. Eut in all these last, sexual intercourse 
is to be perceived as well, though the characteristics of the 
olfspring are pretty much the same as those of the bee. 
CHAP. 24. (21.) WASPS AND HOENETS I A^MALS WHICH APPEO- 
PEIATE WHAT BELONGS TO OTHEES. 
"Wasps build their nests of mud in lofty places,'^ and make 
wax therein : hornets, on the other hand, build in holes or 
under ground. With these two kinds the cells are also hex- 
agonal, but, in other respects, though made of the bark of trees, 
they strongly resemble the substance of a spider's web. Their 
j^oung also are found at irregular intervals, and are of un- 
shapely appearance ; while one is able to fly, another is still a 
mere pupa, and a third only in the maggot state. It is in 
the autumn, too, and not in the spring, that all their young are 
produced; and they grow during the full moon more par- 
ticularly. The wasp which is known as the ichneumon," a 
smaller kind than the others, kills one kind of spider in parti- 
cular, known as the phalangium ; after which it carries the 
body to its nest, covers it over with a sort of gluey substance, 
a;nd then sits and hatches from it its young.'^^ In addi- 
tion to this, they are all of them carnivorous, while on the 
other hand bees will touch no animal substance whatever. 
Wasps more particularly pursue the larger flies, and after 
catching them cut off the head and carry away the remaining 
portion of the body. 
Wild hornets live in the holes of trees, and in winter, like 
other insects, keep themselves concealed ; their life does not 
exceed two years in length. It is not unfrequently that their 
sting is productive of an attack of fever, and there are authors 
who say that thrice nine stings will suffice to kill a man. Of 
Georg. B. iv. 1. 284, et seq. 
'6 Under roofs, and sometimes in the ground : hornets build in the hollows 
of trees. 
Called " Sphaex " by Linnaeus. 
'8 The true version is, that after killing the insect they bury it Tvith their 
eggs as food for their future young. 
