TfiE WASP. 
S55 
aot conftrucled with that geometrical (kill which has 
been fo often admired in thofe of the bee ; but they are 
not on that account the lefs adapted to the purpofes they 
are deftined to ferve. Each comb has only a fingle 
range of cells, with their mouths opening below. They 
are intended, not for the reception of honey, but for the 
habitation of the young, which are fed twice or thrice 
a-day, by the morfels carried in by their parents. For 
the more commodious reception of their tood, each of 
the larvse has its head turned downward oppofite to the 
mouth of its cell, ready to receive its meal when offer- 
ed *. 
There are, however, many varieties in the conftruc- 
tion of wafp hives, all fuited to the views of the different 
fpecies who inhabit them. Some have only a fingle row 
of cells, placed vertically, like thofe of the bee, and the 
mouths facing the fun : The reafon of this variety feems 
to b p , that fome kinds require the heat of the fun to hatch 
their eggs ; an advantage which could not be obtained, 
were there more rows of cells, or were they placed in a 
different manner. 
As in a hive of bees, fo in that of wafps, there are 
three different kinds of animals : At certain feafons, it 
contains only a fingle female, and a number of neuters or 
mules, who are of no fex ; at other times it contains fome 
hundreds of females, and ftill a greater number of males. 
The former are of a fize fo fu peri or to the mules, that 
one weighs againft eight ; even the male wafp is not 
move than half the weight of his female. 
The condition of the female wafp differs widely from 
that of the female bee : The latter, when ihe leads from 
Vol. III. ‘ 3S • the 
* Reaumur, Tom. YJ. Mem. vi. 
