164 NATURAL HISTORY. 
ders it more eafily feparable from the reft, and the whole becoming a 
kind of foft pafte is removed to the mouth of the habitation. The ani- 
mal’s provifion of liquor in thefe operations is however foon exhauited# 
and it is then feen either taking up water from fome neighbouring flowef 
or ftream in order to fupply the deficiency. 
_ At length, after much toil, a hole fome inches deep is formed, at 
the bottom of which is a large cavity ; and to this no other hoitile ine 
fe would venture to find its way, from the length and the narrowne!$ 
of the defile through which it would be obliged to pafs. In this the 
folitary wafp lays its egg, which is deftined to continue the fpecies # 
there the nafcent animal is to continue for above nine months, unattend- 
ed and immured, and at firft appearance the moft helplefs infect of the 
creation. But when we come to examine, new wonders offer, no othet 
infe@ can boaft fo copioufly luxurious a provifion, or fuch confirme¢ 
fecurity. 
As foon as the mother wafp has depofited her egg. at the bottom of 
the hole, her next care is to furnifh it with a fupply of provifionsy — 
which may be offered to the young infec as foon as it leaves the egg 
"To this end the procures a number of little green worms, generally 
from eight to twelve, and thefe are to ferve as food for the young on 
the inftant it awakens into life. When this fupply is regularly arran- 
ged and laid in, the old one then, with as much afliduity as it befor® 
worked out its hole, now clofes the mouth of the paflage; and thus 
leaving its young one immured in perfec fecurity, and in a copious 
fapply of animal food, the dies fatisfied with having provided for a fu" 
ture progeny. oe 
When the young one leaves the egg it is {carcely vifible, and is fee® 
immured among a number of infects, infinitely larger than itfelf, ran 
ged in proper order around it, which, however give it no manner © 
apprehenfion. Whether the parent, when fhe laid in the mfeét prov’ 
fion, contrived to difable the worms from refiftance, or whether they, 
were at firft incapable of any, is not known. Certain it is; that the 
young glutton feafts upemthe living fpoil without any controul ; his 
game lies at his hand, and he devours one after the other as the calls 
of appetite incite him. The life of the young animal is therefore {pent 
in the moft luxurious manner, till its whole ftock of worms is exhat* 
ted, and then the time of its transformation begins to approach; a9© 
then fpinning a filken web, it continues fixed in its cell till the fun calls 
it from its dark abode the enfuing fummer. : ; 
The wafps of Europe are very mifchievous, yet they are innocen®® 
itfelf when compared to thofe of the tropical climates, where all th¢ 
fnfe& tribes are not only numerous, but large, voracious, and form 
dable. hofe of the Weft Indies are thicker, and twice as long as the 
common bee; they are of a grey colour, ftriped with yellow, and ar™, 
ed with a very dangerous fting. They make their cells in the manne 
of a honey-comb, in which the young ones are hatched and bre 
They generally hang their nefts by threads, compofed of the fame fub- 
fance with the cells, to the branches of trees, and the caves of houle> 
‘hey are feen every where in great abundance, defcending like fru 
particularly pears, of which fhape they are, and as large as ‘one’s heat 
The infide is divided into three round ftories, full of cells, each hex” : 
gonal, like thofe of an honey-comb. In fome of the iflands thele a 
