160 
F. M. CAMPBELL—OUR SOCIAL WASPS. 
sugar and a pint of beer. Under these advantages the nest was 
gradually increased to its gigantic size, until it succumbed to the 
cold and damp of late autumn. 
Bee-keepers will naturally ask how it is that the death of a 
queen wasp should lead to the dissolution of its nest, for the loss 
of a queen bee is speedily repaired by the bees rearing in three 
weeks a royal insect from one of the many larvae which with 
ordinary food would have become a worker. The explanation is 
that though in the wasp’s nest there are many perfect females, 
living together in perfect concord, there is only one, and that is. 
the queen, capable of laying eggs which produce the workers, 
upon whom the young are dependent for their food; the other 
females are her children, who do not commence laying until the 
following spring, unless hatched very early in the year, while 
the young queen bee commences her maternal duties about 46 
hours after her nuptials. It is true that parthenogenesis sometimes 
occurs with the neuter wasps, as with the neuter bees, but the 
few offspring are likewise males. The loss of the royal mother- 
wasp is thus almost always irreparable. The bond of union of 
the community is broken, and the nest soon becomes forsaken. 
Like other creatures, wasps have their illnesses apart from the 
effects of cold and wet. They suffer from internal parasites, while 
in tropical countries fungoid growths block their spiracles and air- 
passages. They have many enemies, and among them the ruby¬ 
tailed Chrysis , which rolls itself up into a sting-proof ball like a 
wood-louse and lays its eggs in the cells of the comb. Their homes 
also occasionally harbour unbidden guests, such as snails and beetles. 
Amongst the latter is a species, Rhipiphorus paradoxus , which is a 
remarkable insect, both on account of its habits and the develop¬ 
ment of the mouth-organs. It lays eggs in the cells of the wasp’s 
nest, and the young larvae feed on the wasp-grubs. I found several 
in the month of August this year in each nest I examined, and I 
suppose my good fortune was due to the scarcity of nests. The 
beetles had just arrived at the perfect form, and as I held the 
comb in my hand some were even struggling to release themselves 
from their cocoons, which were covered just in the same manner 
as those of the wasps. Uve* 1 mentions that he has a specimen 
taken from under bark in Scotland, and that the beetle is found 
sometimes on flowers and on the sap of trees. It is evident that 
the perfect insect must hybernate, for the wasp’s nest can offer no 
shelter in winter. 
In conclusion, let me again remind you that the wasp is not. a 
spiteful creature, and that, as we consider the labourer to be worthy 
of his hire, so we ought not to grudge the wasp a taste of our best 
peaches, when we know the good she confers upon us. 
* ‘ British Beetles,’ p. 168. 
