{oo NATURAL HISTORY, 
However fimilar many infe&s may be in appearance, this does 10? 
imply a fimilitude in their hiftory. The bee and the wafp refemblé 
each other very ftrongly, yet, in examining their manner and their dU’ 
ration, they differ very widely ; the bee labours to lay up honey, aa 
lives to enjoy the fruits of its induftry ; the wafp appears equally afl 
duous, but only works for pofterity, as the habitation is fearcely com” 
pleted when the inhabitant dies, ' s 
_ The wafp is well known to be a winged infe& with a fting. To bé 
longer in proportion to its bulk than the bee, to be marked with bright 
yellow circles round its body, and to be the moft fwift and ative inf 
of all the fly kind. On each fide of the mouth this animal is furnifhe 
with a long tooth, notched like a faw, and with thefe it is enable 0 
cut any fubftance, not omitting meat itfelf, and to carry it to its nef 
Wajps live like bees in cormmunity, and fometimes ten or twelve thov’ 
fand ate found inhabiting a fingle neft. ; 
' OF all other infects the wafp is the moft fierce, voracious, and molt 
dangerous, when enraged. They are feen wherever fleth is cutting upt 
gorging themfelves with the fpoil, and then flying to their nefts wit 
their reeking prey. They make war allo on every other fly, and thé 
{pider himfelf dreads their approaches. See 
_ Every community among bees is compofed of females or queens 
' drones or males, and neutral or working bees. Wafps have fimilat 
occupation; the two firft are for propagating the fpecies, the laft fot 
nurfing, defending, and fupporting the rifling progeny. Among bees 
however, there is feldom above a queen or two in an hive; among 
wafps there are above two or three hundred. 
As foon as the fummer begins to invigorate the infeé tribes, the 
wafps are the moft of the number, and diligently employed either 14 
providing provilions for their neft, if already made, or in making one, 
the former habitation be too fmall to receive the increafing community’ 
‘The neft is one of the moft curious objects in natural hiftory, and contt 
ved almoft as artificially as that of the bees themfelves. Their princip: 
_ eare is to feek out an hole that has been begun by fome other anima) 
a field moufe, a rat, or a mole, to build their nefts in. They tome 
times build upon the plain, where they are {ure of the drynefs of thet 
fituation, but moft commonly on the fide of a bank to avoid the rai 
or water that would otherwife annoy them. When they have chofe# 
a proper place they go to work with wonderful affiduity. Their fr 
labour is to enlarge ‘and widen the hole, taking away the earth af 
carrying it off to fome diflance. They are perfectly formed for labou™ 
being furnifhed with a trunk above their mouths, two faws on ea 
fide which play to the right and left againft each other, and fix ftrong 
mutcular legs to fupport them. They cut the earth into fmall pat 
cels with their faws, and carry it out with their legs or paws. ‘Uhis ¥ 
the work of fome days; and at length the outline of their habitation ® 
formed, making a cavity of about a foot and an half every way’ 
While fome are working in this manner, others are roving the fields to 
feek out materials for their building. ‘To prevent the earth from fa" 
ing down and crufhing their rifling city into rnin, they make a fort oF 
toof with their gluey fubftance, to which they begin to fix the rudimest® 
of their building, working from the top downwards, as if they W é: 
hanging a bell, which, however, at length they clofe up at the ei 
aa ect ieteengatin tens Recast, gba ges rere ~ =e ¢ Ose" 
