2 IS HYMENOPTERAi 
providing for their young; their stings 
are their only weapons, and these they 
sometimes use not only in defence, but 
in attack, though very seldom, unless 
provoked. 
Lucy, I thought that wasps often 
stung, when no one had a thought of hurt- 
ing them ? 
Mother. I have known them sting, 
when I could perceive no cause for 
their irritation ; but as both bees and 
wasps are supposed to dislike certain 
smells, it might have happened that the 
person stung had been obnoxious in that 
way. When we consider the prodigious 
number of insects, possessed of the power 
of stinging, which are continually flying 
around us during the whole summer, and 
recollect how seldom we hear of any per- 
son being stung, we must acknowledge 
that their aggressions are very rarely 
wanton. 
Lucy, Indeed! mamma, that is very 
true; and it will, I hope, entirely cure 
me of my silly fears ; but there are such 
