Economic entomology for the farmer Economic entomology for the economicentomolo00smit_0 Year: 1896 THE INSECT WORLD. 407 times become of enormous size, many hundreds of individuals being found in a single nest in the latter part of the season. Durability is not looked for by the insects, and the winter storms and snows disintegrate the paper structures, so that in spring it is rarely possible to find them, however abundant they may have been during the summer previous. Wasps are beneficial, as a whole, since they feed largely upon other insects and never directly upon crops. They are
Economic entomology for the farmer Economic entomology for the economicentomolo00smit_0 Year: 1896 THE INSECT WORLD. 407 times become of enormous size, many hundreds of individuals being found in a single nest in the latter part of the season. Durability is not looked for by the insects, and the winter storms and snows disintegrate the paper structures, so that in spring it is rarely possible to find them, however abundant they may have been during the summer previous. Wasps are beneficial, as a whole, since they feed largely upon other insects and never directly upon crops. They are a nui- FiG. 463. Nest of Polistes gallicola. sance sometimes in the orchard, where they are apt to attack all fruits that show the least trace of injury or decay, and they have been accused, as, indeed, have the bees as well, of actually punct- uring juicy specimens to get at the liquid contained in them. Some of the species are undoubtedly useful in pollenizing fruit flowers, but there are none of pre-eminent advantage in this di- rection. The last family in the order contains the bees, and these, as in the wasps, may be either social or solitary. The solitary bees are those in which male and female only are developed, and their habits in nest-building resemble in many cases those of the wasps. Thus, we have species that build in the ground, those that make cells in the pith of plants, others that are true carpen- ters and bore tunnels in solid wood, and, in short, we may find bee homes in much the same situation that we find wasp domi- ciles. Their cells may be distinguished, however, in all cases by
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