Insects : their life-histories and habits . thisprosperous community with the terror of a will ravage it, for the wasps have stored noemergency rations within their paper walls ; and with thecold of approaching winter gnawing at their vitals theycease to roam abroad in search of food. Thus they die—die by tens, by hundreds, by thousands—the enfeebledworkers actually dragging the half-grown grubs from theircells, and casting them forth to share the common fate ofthe community. Only the young queens survive, destinedas they are to found new colonies in the year to
Insects : their life-histories and habits . thisprosperous community with the terror of a will ravage it, for the wasps have stored noemergency rations within their paper walls ; and with thecold of approaching winter gnawing at their vitals theycease to roam abroad in search of food. Thus they die—die by tens, by hundreds, by thousands—the enfeebledworkers actually dragging the half-grown grubs from theircells, and casting them forth to share the common fate ofthe community. Only the young queens survive, destinedas they are to found new colonies in the year to mating with a drone, each one seeks a hiding-placeand passes the winter in lonely widowhood. Wasps are attacked by numerous parasites, includingthe curious beetle called Metcecus paradoxus, which issaid only to infest Vespa vulgaris. In the nests of V. rufa,a cuckoo wasp known as V. austriaca is sometimes has no workers, and presumably foists itself upon itshosts in much the same way that the Psithyrus bee enters Plate XLI]. ;v$
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1913
