The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-16
CURIOUS HABITS OF WASPS.
HOW THEY OBTAIN THEIR SUP
PLY or FOOD.
Character and Variations OF the Solitary
species Methods Of ktnlng Insects
Absentmlnded Wasps-How They Work
and Piay-FindinE Their Way Home.

Absentmlnded Wasps-How They Work
and Piay-FindinE Their Way Home.
In all natural history there are, perhaps,
no more fascinating and extraordinary
chapters than those which deal with the
habits OF ants, bees and wasps, writes
Lord Avsbury In the London Chronicle.
When We speak OF bees and wasps We gen-
orally think Of the social species. These,
however, are comparatively few In num-
Der, while the solitary forms are much
more numerous, and scarcely, II at all
less interesting.
We owe to NJ. Fabre, the distinguished
French entomologist. a most interesting
and delightful series Of observations on
the habits OF insects. Some of the most
striking are those In which he describes
the solitary bees and wasps. Speaking
generally, we may say that each female
constructs cell, every species having it's
own favorite site. She then stores up In
it sufficient supply Of food, which, IN
the case Of bees, consists OF pollen and
honey, while wasps select small animals,
such as beetles. caterpillan, spiders, &c.
The mother then lays an egg, after which
she closes up the cell and begins another
Generally, though not invariably, she takes
no further notice Of her offspring.
Many years ago NJ Fabre published some
careful and brilliant observations on the
subject. lie found that some wasps sting
| their victims in such manner as to para
lyze, but not to kill them and he argued
that this remarkable instinct must have
been original. and could not have been
gradually acquired since, II the cater
. i,,i,. II would ole tn
escape and almost inevitably destroy the
egg of the wasp; or il II were killed, 1t
would decay, and soon become unfit for
| food.
Many years ago l suggested that the
facts did not bear out M. Fabre's conclu-
sion; that instincts were by no means so
invariabe as he assumed; that even in
this case some wasps buried their victims
but little injured, some more OF less para
lyzed, and others killed outright. without
harm being done to the young wasp. Strik-
ing support Of this view is now given by
Mr.. and Mrs. Peckham, who confirm the
statement that the victims are by no means
always treated in the same manner.
One of the important results Of their
| investigations consists in the additional
evidence which they have collected Of the
great diversity Of habits, not only between
different species but also between different
individuals belonging to the same species.
Prof Forel and | both arrived at similar
results in the case Of ants, and, as Mr.. and
Mrs. Peckham point out it is exceedingly
probable that a painstaking study OF any
branch whatever OF the animal Kingdom
| would lead to the same conclusion They
tell us that they found "a most interesting
variation among the different individuals,
not only in meth ods but In character and
intellect. While one lwaspl was beguiled
from her hunting by every blossom she
passed. another stuck to her work with
stung her caterpillar 80 carelessly and
made her nest in 30 shiftless way that
her young could survive only through
some lucky chance, another devoted her
tious thoroughness, but with an apparent
craving after artistic perfection that was
touching to see.
An example Of such an apparent craving
is given in the case OF PomPiiius fusci-
penis. who, having finished the building
objects and placed them over the nest
a little stick the petal Of faded flower,
q scrap Of dead leaf, and so on until ten or
twelve things had been collected This
certainly appears to have been entirely
personal, since in no other examples OF
p. tuscipennis did they ever see such per-
| feet work again.
Prof. Fabre himself indeed, shows that
instincts are not immutabe. For instance.
on one occasion he took two dozen solitary
bees cells from a quarry, where they had
been nesting, as he supposes, for centuries.
in snail shells, and placed them in his study
with some empty shells and hollow stenls.
When the young bees came out, in the fol.
lowing spring. nearly all Of them selected
the stalks to build in as being better suited
TO their use than the shells.
One of MIR. and Mrs. Peckham's most in
teresting observations is that OF an Am
nophiid urndrid, that actually took a small
pebble in her mandibles and used It az
| hammer to pound down the earth over
her nest
Such examples OF what may almost be
called artistic and intellectual gifts are
balanced by many cases OF equally sur
prising carelessness and stupidity. Some
absent minded wasps cheerfully close up
their cells, quite forgetting to supply the
necessary food, or even, to lay an egg;
others when interrupted in their work,
appear incapable Of picking up the threads
again. Yet perhaps we should not be
when we remember that even men are not
Invariably intelligent in either what they
do or leave undone.
This is not confined to the stupid or
vicious; even the ablest often fail to per-
,eiye what aafterward appears Is.n.. ALMOST most
to the fact that the use and effects Of laugh
ing gas we're discovered by Sir H. DaVS
at the commencement Of the last century,
and taught in the best medical schools
for full fifty years before the apparently
obvious idea occurred to any one that
these properties might be put to use in
actual practise.
other similar facts might be adduoed.
and ought to make us chary Of accusing
these wonderfully industrious little crea-
lures, whose motives 1t is quite possible
we may not always understand. Wasps
are even buster than the busy bee. ! have
several times watched one the whole day,
and from 4 in the morning till light failed
| in the evening she worked without any
interval for rest or enjoyment
The males Of the solitary waspe are not 50
invariably idle as those Of the social species.
In some cases they guard the nest during
the absence Of the female, certainly an i'm
portant office in protecting the young from
parasites. Once, when the work Of storing
The nest had been delayed by rainy weather,
they saw male Tryporylon rubrocinctum,
which feeds Its young on spiders, assist
/ ing by taking the spiders from the female
as she brought them and packing them into
the nest, leaving her free TO hunt for more.
| Nevertheless, wasps seem well aware OF
the tiiastrous effects Of -sh work and no
play" Mr. and Mrs. Peckham noticed
| -