402 
COMMON WASP. 
generally put in force about the beginning of Octo- 
ber, when the first sharp cold begins to be felt. 
At this time every nest presents a scene of desola- 
tion. The grubs are dragged from their cells, and 
destroyed by the wasps before the door of the habi- 
tation, where the ground appears covered with their 
dead carcases; and those combs which befoie were 
filled with living animals, are now completely de- 
serted. Many of those which remain to inhabit 
the nest, find it insupportable during the severe 
weather, and fly in search of warmer situations ; 
while the few who pass the winter within their 
city, are either benumbed or killed by the frost ; 
so that, out of perhaps eight or nine thousand wasps, 
but ten or twelve are found alive in the spring. 
From so small a remainder it seems scarcely pos- 
sible that a new colony should be raised by the next 
summer ; yet the difficulty vanishes when we con- 
sider the great fecundity of the female wasps, one 
of which is sufficient to raise a new swarm. The 
female begins to accomplish this purpose, by build- 
ing two or three cells that form a little clustei, 
glued by the stalk to the top of a cavity of her own 
contrivance. There she lays two eggs, which are 
soon hatched into worms ; and in a short time they 
relieve the mother from the care of their main- 
tenance, by shutting the entrance of their cell and 
passing into their dormant state. While they are 
thus enclosed, the female has time to hatch more 
eggs ; and the other two, coming soon after to matu- 
