Honey-producing flowers in which the corolla is so long that even the
proboscis of humblebees cannot reach the honey hidden at the bottom of
the flower, (tobacco, field and garden beans) are gnawed at their base
by the sharp mandibles of the bees, so that a hole is made in the calyx
and corolla through which the tongue can be put. In this way the ovary
is sometimes wounded, and the normal development of the fruit rendered
impossible. Perhaps a certain amount of damage, always however
inconsiderable, may thus be effected.
Family: =Vespidæ= (_Wasps_).
Mouth-parts as in bees. Also with stings. Slender, and either hairless
or only slightly hairy. Eyes kidney shaped. Fore wings folded together
longitudinally when at rest (Figs. 61 and 88).
A distinction is made between solitary and social wasps; the latter
possess males, females, and workers. Only the fertilized queens survive
the winter. In the spring each of these begins to construct a nest (Fig.
88). In the wasp’s nest each comb consists only of a single layer of
cells, the openings of which are turned downwards. In a single nest
several of these horizontally placed combs are usually found one over
another, and are connected together by means of vertical pillars. Some
nests are built in hollow trees, others in holes in the ground; others
hang freely from trees, in which case they are covered by several layers
of a papery substance. The combs and cells are also made of paper, to
prepare which the insect gnaws and crushes decaying wood, and especially
bark, with its mandibles, mixing the crushed material with saliva. In
this way a pulp is made which is used in the construction of the nest,
and dries into a kind of paper. The opening of the nest is in its under
side (Fig. 88).
[Illustration:
FIG. 88.—The Common Wasp (_Vespa vulgaris_) and its nest.
]
During spring and summer the queen, or “wasp-mother,” lays only eggs
from which workers are hatched, which undertake the work of
nest-construction and care of larvæ, so that the queen can devote
herself exclusively to the function of reproduction. Towards autumn
males, and females capable of being fertilized, are also hatched; these
last afterwards live over the winter in the fertilized condition.
During summer the larvæ are fed by the workers with finely chewed
insects or with honey. They do not, however, suck the honey from
flowers, but steal it from several species of bee, or else form it in
their stomachs from sugary materials drawn from sweet fruits.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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