Evening star., 1949-11-18
This and That
Bv Charles E. TyaceweH


The house was being painted 50 the wasp
nest had to come down, but what was to be
done with the queen?
\ There she was, cold and shivering, in her
cell.
The first really cold morning had killed
off the last Of her friends and children. and
she alone was left to carry on the tribe.
It seemed hopeless enough. Here she was.
on the very drst morning. half In and half
out Of her cell. scarcely able to move. she
was so cold.
Was she determined to stick it out in the
nest whence all but she had ned?
It seemed shame to dismantle the ag-
gregation Of cells hung by slight shaft to
the window sill, between the pane and the
screen. =
How the wasps got to and fro was easy.
There was. and had been for 20 years. un-
known to the household. slight hole where
q lazy carpenter had failed to make two
strips meet.
This the wasps had found, early in spring,
and had scraped wood pulp from the fence
and brought it in through the opening.
When discovered. the nest had II small
cells. rather experimental. since they were
at the edge, and were not deep enough for
practical purposes.
wings that stood up like plane wings.
The window had been shut. and kept shut
all summer and fall to date.
Now the painters were at hand, and the
nest had to be removed.
We had counted "a cells. but knew there
were more.
The aggregation measured about 2 inches
at the broadest point, and an inch and q
half high, with depth Of about half an
inch.
When we went to take down the cell, there
seemed to be no wasps there at all.
The window went up easily. The sill was
clean enough, and the side strips not much
soiled. The carcasses Of four wasps lay
where they had fallen, dry and plastic
(Their chitin, the stuff their outer case is
made Of. Is very much like modern plastic.)
/, AS we looked carefully at the cells we
noticed q wasp half In, half out.
It was the queen!
Would she attack?
The doubt was soon resolved. She would
not. She was too cold.
The cell block came loose easily enough,
and the queen fell out to the sill.
She could scarcely move.
We picked her up In piece Of aluminium
foil, and carried her outdoors, and put her
in some leaves. OiaH an hour later. when
we looked, she was gone, 80 we suppose she
went to new hiding place. to last out the
winterJ
The lishtness OF the cell block was anaz-
ing, but should not have been. since 1t was
made Of paper. real paper. by one OF the
first papermakers.
There were 48 cells in the wonderful pat
tern these odd creatures have used since
time immemorial
The whole could have been crushed with
one press Of the fingers, yet here it was,
each cell still In the original form, and the
material for its purpose.
It had served the tribe well, and now 1t
was Of no more use.
They were all gone. except the queen, to
whom the race looked for the future.
She would be, no doubt, hiding In some
crack or crevice, with lowered vitality, until
the pulse Of next spring, when she would
emerge, to begin the saga all over again.
It was LIES endless story, as wonderful
for her and her tribe to be as for the
mightiest human monarch and his hirelings.
When the queen appears next spring, we
will watch out for her. for she can sting.
Only the females and the workers have that
ability.
The queen is going to be surprised. when
she tries to get into her old nesting place,
for she will md 1t blocked UP. and good.
One wasp nest between window pane and
scresn u enough for lifetime,