1. There are two kinds of wasps, of which the wild sort are rare; they
are found in mountains, and do not build their nest in the ground,
but on oak trees; in form they are larger, longer, and darker than
the other sort; they are variegated, all of them have stings, and
are strong, and their sting is more painful than that of the other
sorts, for their sting is larger in proportion to their size. These
live for two years, and in winter are observed to fly out of trees,
when they are cut down; during winter they live in holes. Their place
of concealment is in trees; some of them are mother wasps, and some
workers, as in those which are more domestic; the nature of the workers
and the mother wasps will be explained when we come to speak of the
more domestic kind.
2. For there are two kinds of the domestic wasps, the rulers, which
they call mother wasps, and the workers; the rulers are larger and more
gentle, and the workers do not survive the year, but all of them die,
on the arrival of winter. This is plain, for at the beginning of winter
the workers become stupid, and about the solstice are seen no more;
but the rulers, which are called mother wasps, are seen during the
whole of the winter, and bury themselves in the earth; for in ploughing
and digging during the winter, the mother wasps have been frequently
observed, but no one has ever seen a worker.
3. The following is the manner of their reproduction: when the rulers
have found a place properly situated, at the beginning of summer, they
form their combs and build the wasps nests, as they are called; these
are small, with four holes, or thereabouts; in these working wasps are
produced, and not mother wasps. When these are grown, they afterwards
build larger nests, and again larger still, as the swarm increases,
so at the end of autumn the nests are very numerous and large, and in
these the mother wasps no longer produce workers but mothers. These
larger maggots are produced on the top of the upper part of the nest,
in four or rather more adjoining cells, very like those of the rulers
in their combs. When the working wasps are produced in the combs,
the rulers no longer labour, but the workers bring them food; this
is evident, from the rulers never flying away from the workers, but
remaining quietly within.
4. Whether the rulers of the previous year, when they have produced
new rulers, die at the same time as the young wasps, or whether they
survive a longer period, no one has ever observed, nor has anyone ever
observed the old age of the mother wasps, or of the wild wasps, or any
other of their affections. The mother wasp is broad and heavy, and
thicker, and larger than the working wasp, and her weight prevents her
from being very active in flight, neither can she fly far, but always
sits in the wasps' nests, and fashions and arranges the internal parts.
5. There are generally mother wasps in the nests, but there is some
doubt whether they have stings or not; they seem, however, like the
rulers among the bees, to have stings, though they never put them out
nor sting; some wasps, like the drones, are without stings, others have
a sting. Those that are without stings are smaller, and not so angry,
neither do they defend themselves; those which are furnished with a
sting are larger, and strong; some call these the males, and those
which have no sting the females. Towards winter many of those that have
stings appear to lose them, though we have never met with eye-witnesses
of this circumstance.
6. Wasps are more abundant in dry seasons and rough places; they
are produced beneath the earth, they make their combs of collected
materials and of earth, each springing from one origin, as if from
a root. They procure their food from some flowers and fruits, but
generally, they are carnivorous. Some persons have observed them in
the act of sexual intercourse, but whether one or both had stings or
not, was not seen. Some wild wasps also have been seen in the act
of intercourse, one of them had a sting, whether the other had was
not observed. Their offspring does not seem to be produced from this
intercourse, but is always larger than the offspring of the wasp should
be.
7. If a person takes hold of the legs of a wasp, and permits it to buzz
with its wings, those that have no stings will fly towards him, which
those with stings will not do, and some persons consider this to be
a sign that the one are males, the other females. Some are taken in
caverns during the winter with stings, and others without them. Some
of them make small nests and few in number; others make many large
nests. Many of those called mother wasps are taken at the turn of the
season in the neighbourhood of elms, for they collect the sticky and
glutinous matter. There are a great many mother wasps, when wasps have
been abundant during the previous year, and the weather rainy. They
are captured in the neighbourhood of precipitous places and straight
fissures in the earth, and all appear to have stings. This, then, is
the nature of wasps.