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THE INSECT WORLD. 
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cold weather and towards night, they are less vivacious and less to 
be dreaded. 
The wasps are distinguished from the bees by a decided charac- 
teristic. In a state of repose they fold together their upper wings, 
which then seem very narrow, only spreading them out when they 
are about to fly; whilst the latter when at rest keep their upper 
wings spread out. 
Wasps live in companies, which last only a year, and are com- 
posed of males, females, and workers. But the female wasp does 
not pass her entire life in idleness, as a queen, like the mother 
hive bee. She occupies herself in making the nest and in taking 
care of the young, like the mother humble bee. The males have 
also their duties. They watch over the cleanliness of the habita- 
tion, and are the sanitary commissioners and undertakers to the 

Fig, 345.—Common Wasp ( Vespa vulgaris). Fig. 346.—Bush Wasp ( Vespa rufa). 
city. These are easily recognised by their oblong bodies, having 
so slight a connection with the thorax, as it were by a thread. 
Their sting is larger than that of the bees, and is supplied with 
poison from a pouch placed at its base. The males have no sting. 
Wasps do not secrete wax. With their mandibles they cut vege- 
tables and plants, the fragments of which they agglutinate 
together in such a way as to form a tough cardboard. Thus 
they invented the manufacture of paper long before men. Charles 
de Geer, in his celebrated work, sums up the habits of these 
insects in the following manner :—‘ Wasps,” says he, “are, like 
bees, fond of sweets and honey, although they rarely seek them 
in flowers; but their principal food consists in matters of quite a 
different kind, such as fruits of all kinds, raw flesh, and live insects, 
which they seize and devour. They sometimes do dreadful damage 
in beehives, devouring the honey, and killing the bees. They do 
not gather wax; their nests and their combs are composed of a 
matter resembling grey paper, which they get from rotten wood, 


