wasps, and the remainder as
" solitary." The latter are
smaller insects, and are so
called because each female
makes only a few earthen
cells in a hole in a wall,
post, or similar situation, and
has no workers to assist in
her labours. In each cell she
lays an egg and places a
supply of food, generally
consisting of small cater-
pillars, stung so as to
paralyze, but not to kill,
them. The cell is then sealed
up with mud ; the young
wasp grub, on hatching,
devours the food provided,
and completes its meta-
morphosis without further
attention from the parent.
How very different is this
from the methods of the
social species will be seen as
we proceed.

A wasps' nest, like a bee-hive, has often
been compared to a city, and the inmates to
citizens ; but the comparison is not a true
one in either case, and even less so in the
case of the wasp.

The wasp community is really only a
family, though a remarkably large one.
The mother is the queen ; the father was
dead long before his first children were
born ; the daughters are the countless
workers (undeveloped females), and the
large females which will become " queens "
next year ; the sons are the males, which
appear late in summer, though some of
them may be the offspring of workers, and
are therefore " grandsons " of the queen.




The Queen Wasp founds
her colony single handed,
acting as builder, forager
and nurse until hep
daughters ape old enough
to take on the work.

(Photograph greatly enlarged, above
life-size. )



By far the most interesting individual in
this community is the queen, and a com-
parison drawn between her and the queen
honey-bee is certainly to the disadvantage
of the latter.

When the queen bee starts a new com-
munity, she already has some thousands of
attendants at hand ready to wait on her
every need and do all the work of the hive.
She is nothing more than an egg-laying
machine, and even her one function is
controlled by the workers.

The wasps' nest, on the
other hand, is started by a
solitary queen, awakened from
her winter's sleep some warm
day in early spring.

She flies along hedgerows
and bank sides searching for
a suitable locality. Presently
she finds a mouse-hole, which
she cautiously enters. Some
distance inside, she proceeds
to inspect the roof, until she
finds a tree root or a large
stone, which will support the
nest. Retracing her steps,
she emerges into the daylight
once more, and for a moment
or two hovers back and
forth about the entrance in
gradually widening curves,
apparently making a careful
survey of the locality, so that
she can easily find it again.
Then away she flies out of
sight.

If we could examine her
closely when she returns,
we should see that her mouth was filled
with a mass of greyish- looking material.
This is wood fibre, which she has
rasped with her powerful mandibles from
an old rail or gate-post, or some dead
plant stem, and chewed up into a sort of
papier-mache. Down in the darkness
of her tunnel she plasters this pulpy material
upon the chosen support, and the founda-
tion of the nest is laid. She works rapidly,
and every time she leaves the hole carries
a bit of earth in her jaws and drops it out-
side, thus gradually enlarging the burrow
into a nest chamber.

She continues to collect fibrous material
and make paper, adding layer upon layer



183



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



to that already applied. Soon she has
completed a rather stout pillar, depending
from the roof half an inch or more, at the
end of which she constructs a bunch of
shallow hexagonal cells, facing downwards,
and then protects them by a kind of paper
umbrella encircling the pillar above.

About half a dozen cells are formed, the
queen depositing in each a small white egg,



only for their honey, but for the flies and
other insects which are attracted thither.
A queen wasp with growing babies entirely
dependent on her, wastes no time over her
hunting. She pounces on the first insect
she comes across ; if it is a small caterpillar
it succumbs quickly ; if a large fly, there is
a short struggle in mid-air, ending in the
wasp biting off the wings and perhaps the









Photo: A. Harold B..slin.

The "Face" of a Wasp enormously enlarged and "touched up" to bring out details.
When photographed, the original had crawled to the end of a broken twig.



one end of which is attached to the side of
the cell by a sticky secretion. In about a
week these eggs hatch into tiny white leg-
less grubs, the queen meanwhile construct-
ing further cells and laying more eggs.

As soon as the larvae are hatched, how-
ever, her energies are entirely devoted to
feeding and caring for them, in which she
shows a maternal instinct quite unknown
to the queen honey-bee.

The food she brings them is not, as might
be expected, the nectar of flowers and sweet
vegetable juices, on which the queen herself
subsists ; it is animal matter, mainly of an
insect nature. The wasp visits flowers not



head, and carrying the rest home, where it
is chewed up and distributed amongst the
hungry grubs.

As the larvae grow, their queen- mother
builds up the walls of the cells around them,
until, in a fortnight's time, they are full
grown and completely fill the cells. Until
now they have been helpless babies, unable
to do anything but eat the food put into
their mouths ; now they have to perform
the one act of their larval lives.

Out of its mouth each grub produces a
fine thread of sticky material, which hardens,
on exposure, to a white substance resembling
silk. With this it spins a cap, securely



184



CURIOSITIES OF INSECT LIFE



covering the mouth of its cell. After a few
days the larval skin is cast off and the
pupa is revealed. The pupa, in its early
stages, is a beautiful object. At first it is
perfectly white, and every external organ
of the insect is visible. It reminds one of
nothing so much as a delicate ivory model
of a wasp, in which all the
limbs are folded so as to
occupy the smallest possible
space. The eyes soon begin
to darken, and are followed
by a gradual darkening of
the whole body.

In about ten days' time
the pupa has developed into
a perfect wasp, which bites
its way through the white
capping which it spun when
a grub, and emerges from
the cell. At first it is
very weak, damp and pale
coloured ; but the queen
feeds it, not with animal
matter this time, but with
vegetable juices, and as the
young wasp dries, it quickly
becomes stronger and
brighter in colour.

The workers which
emerge first spend their
time in helping their less
advanced sisters to escape
from their cells and in
dispensing the food which
the queen collects. After a
few days they, too, go out
and assist their mother in
collecting food and material
for the enlargement of the
nest. The queen lays eggs
in empty and newly formed
cells as fast as they are
ready, and the number of
workers rapidly increases ;
but the queen still continues to collect
food and to work at the nest. Later on,
when there are about thirty workers, she
ceases to go out, and, devoting her energies
to egg-laying, leaves the work of the nest
entirely to her daughters.

The nest now grows with increasing

rapidity, the first comb or layer of cells being

extended on all sides in a circular direction,

until it is about four inches across. Then

14 i



a second comb is started below it, sup-
ported by a number of paper pillars, which
allow just enough room for the passage of
the queen between the two combs. So the
unceasing labour goes on, until the nest
contains six or more layers of cells, hung
one below the other. At the same time




Pho'o: Ray Palmer, F.B.S.

Nest of the Larger Common Wasp photographed in its

natural position in a bank, and showing the shell-like

pattern of the outer covering.



the chamber containing the nest is con-
stantly being enlarged ; the earth is carried
up and thrown outside, while the loosened
stones, which the wasps, of course, cannot
carry, accumulate at the bottom.

The umbrella-like roof, which the queen
constructed to cover her first few cells, is
enlarged and extended into a thick covering
of many layers of paper, which completely
envelops the nest, leaving only a small hole



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE




Photo: Ray Fainter, J-'.f-.S.

Nest of the Larger Common Wasp shown with the

covering removed. It contains six combs, of which

only five are visible in the illustration.



for an entrance. The paper made by the
workers is of a much rougher texture than
that originally made by the queen, and by
careful search it is often possible to dis-
tinguish the latter at the apex of the nest.

The illustration on p. 185 shows a nest in
its natural position in a bank, but in dig-
ging it out the cavity below was considerably
enlarged. In this photograph the shell-
like pattern of the outer covering is easily
discernible.

The next illustration shows the interior
of the nest with the covering removed. It



the eggs or larvae which produce
workers and those which pro-
duce queens, but the latter
receive much more food than
the worker larvae, grow larger,
and become perfectly developed
females. The workers are small,
undeveloped females, though
some of them are capable of
laying eggs. The males are
reared in ordinary worker cells,
which are raised a little to
accommodate their extra length ;
they are produced from un-
fertilized eggs laid by the queen
towards the end of the season,
or from the eggs of fertile
workers. The male can be
identified by his longer antennae
and abdomen, and the absence
of a sting. The sting is really
the ovipositor, a female organ,
not possessed by the male.

A comb from the centre of
the nest is shown on p. 187.
The interest of this is that it
shows two successive broods,
in the roughly circular formation
always adopted. The oldest cells
(i.e. those first made) are in the
centre of the comb, and are the
first to be filled therefore when
these cells contain wasps ready
to emerge, those at the edge



may contain young larvae, or even eggs, of
the same brood.

When the wasps leave the centre cells,
these are cleaned out and repaired, and the
queen lays eggs in them again as fast as they
are ready. Thus a second brood follows
close on the heels of the first, and a third
on the heels of a second, each extending in
an outward direction from the centre. As
a rule, after the cells have been used three
times in this way, they are discarded.

In the illustration the cells with white
caps contain pupae, the outer ones larvae



contains six combs, the upper one being just pupated, and those on the inner edge,

concealed in the photograph. It will be wasps nearly ready to emerge.

noticed that the lowest combs consist of

larger cells than the others. This shows

that the nest had attained its full size, for

the large cells are those in which the young



The cells with ragged white edges are
those from which wasps have only recently
emerged, and have not yet been cleaned up
by the workers. On the inner edge of
the white-capped cells are a number which



queens are reared.

There is no apparent difference between appear empty, but most of them contain

1 86



CURIOSITIES OF INSECT LIFE



eggs or young larvae. The next illustration adorned with orange or reddish blotches,



shows the details more clearly, and it will
be noticed that the eggs are not placed on
the base of the cell, but in the angle formed
by two of the sides. Below the eggs the
larvae are seen, getting gradually larger to-
wards the centre of the comb, where we
again come to white-capped cells containing
pupae. The second illustration on p . 82
shows the various stages, as extracted from
the cells.

We have already mentioned that there
are seven British species of social wasps ;
these differ somewhat in habits, though
(with the exception of the hornet) only
slightly in appearance.

The common wasps that nest underground
are of two species, distinguished by certain



which vary greatly in extent and colour.
This is the smallest of the seven species,
and the nest is a very fragile affair, of rather
inferior workmanship. The nest-paper lacks
the scale formation of the other ground
wasps, and is applied in irregular but con-
tinuous layers of a soft grey tint with
lighter markings.

The red wasp is particularly interesting
because of another species which associates
with it, living and breeding in its nest, on
apparently amicable terms. This insect
(Vespa austriacd) is often called the " cuckoo
wasp," because its relations to the red wasp
are very similar to those of the cuckoo
and its foster-parents. The cuckoo wasp
is similar in general appearance to the



marks on the face. The two types of red wasp, and was at one time thought
nests also are different.

The larger common wasp
(Vespa germanicd) is usually the
most abundant species in the
south. This wasp makes a nest
of grey paper, with a shell-like
or scale-like marking on the
outer covering. The nests are
sometimes very large and have
been known to contain as many
as fourteen combs, though seven
or eight is the normal number.

The lesser common wasp
(Vespa vulgaris) is closely allied
to the previous species, and only
very slightly smaller. The nest
also is smaller as a rule, and
has the same scale-like marking,
but the paper is of a light
brown colour, with white streaks,
which sometimes render it quite
a pretty object. The brown
colouring is due to the fact
that rotten wood is principally
used, and the white streaks are
often caused by ordinary (man-
made) paper, which this wasp
likes to use, when it can be
obtained.

There is a third species

which nests underground, but is riwto: Kay ralmtt . t

far less common than the other Comb from the nest showing two broods in their
two. This insect is known as various stages. The white-capped cells contain pupae ;

the red wasp (Vespa rufa], the outep ones larvse J ust Pupated; and those on the
i _i inner edge, wasps nearly ready to emerge. The cells

because the first two segments with rag | ed white edge y s have Y nct bee * cleaned up

of the abdomen above are since the emergence of the young wasps.

,8 7




THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



to be only a variety of this species. It lacks
the red colouring, however, and differs in
the facial markings. The cuckoo wasp
has no workers, only males and fully de-
veloped females being known. The workers
are provided by its host, into whose nest
the female enters for the purpose of laying
her eggs. Whether she is met with an-
tagonism from the red queen we do not
know ; but her children are eventually
reared by the workers, who doubtless do not
know but that they are of their own species.

The three remaining wasps make their
nests above ground, but construct them on
the same principle.

A wasps' nest always contains a variety
of insect life besides the wasps themselves.
They find a home therein, living either as
parasites or welcome guests which act as
scavengers. These insects, welcome or un-




Plioto : Kay Palmer, F./-.S.

Part of the comb of the Larger Common Wasps' nest
enlarged to natural size, showing eggs, larvae in
various stages of development, capped cells containing
pupae, and empty cells from which wasps have emerged.

1 88



welcome, form an interesting study; but only
a few words can be said about them here.

Numerous small white eggs may generally
be found in the outer envelope of the nest.
These are the eggs of an anthomyid fly,
known as Sphecolyma manis, which is about
the size of a house fly, but orange all over
except the head and a stripe on the thorax,
which are dark brown. This fly makes her
way down the tunnel to the nest, on the
outside of which she lays her eggs. The
maggots, on hatching, at once drop to the
base of the cavity, where there is always an
accumulation of excrement and other organic
matter thrown out of the nest. On this they
feed, and so unconsciously contribute to the
well-being of the wasp community.

Several larger flies, of the genus Volucella,
also live in their early stages in wasps' nests.
The larvae are broad and spiny, and act as
scavengers in the interior of the
nest. They feed apparently on
the excrement of the wasp larvae,
which falls from the cells on to
the top of the comb below. Other
insects are actual parasites. One
of them is the wasp ichneumon
fly (Sphecophaga vesparum),
whose larva lives in the interior
of the wasp grub, which it com-
pletely destroys. The ichneumon
larva then spins its own cocoon
in the cell, which appears as
though nearly filled with a
pinkish-white cement.

Another parasite is a beetle,
known as Metcecus paradoxus.
The larva is an internal parasite
at first, but at a later stage it
emerges from the still living wasp
grub, and feeds upon it ex-
ternally. The beetle larva allows
its host to cap over the cell,
then devours it entirely, and itself
pupates in the cocoon provided
by its victim.

The way this larva enters the
nest is somewhat mysterious.
Some authorities say that the
female beetle lays eggs in the
cells ; by others it is thought that
the newly hatched larva attaches
itself to a wasp which is gathering
material for "paper," and is thus
conveyed to the nest.




The Marbled Green Moth (Bryophila muraiis'), and the Marbled Beauty Moth
(Bryopliila perla] are alike in tastes and habits.



5.-IN SEARCH OF THE MARBLED MOTHS



By G. W. COLTHRUP, Z.P.C.

With photographs by the Author



THE occupation of a naturalist offers
much scope for misconstruction on
the part of those busybodies of
the public way who cannot bear to see
a fellow-being depart from the recognized
track. The marbled moths have been for
many years my favourite study, and in the
course of my searchings along the sea-fronts
of various coastal re-
sorts I have found
myself not only the
butt of every joker,
but a source of much
apprehension in the
minds of the guardians
of the law. To the
onlooker unversed in
the ways of these
fascinating little in-
sects, the sight of a
man seriously and
laboriously scrutiniz-
ing, and presently
photographing, an ap-
parently blank wall in
a public thoroughfare




So closely does the coloration of the
Marbled Green Moth (var. w'ridis, Tutt)
resemble the markings on an old lichen-
covered wall that when resting on it by
day it is practically invisible.

,8 9



may have its humorous aspect. For so
well do these moths disappear into their
surroundings that once, on a piece of wall
about eighteen inches square on which I had
located a marbled green moth (Bryophila
muraiis), I invited a suspicious policeman
to inspect the object of my studies. This
he magnanimously consented to do some-
what in the way that
one humours a child or
a lunatic but to his
bewilderment , after
searching carefully for
close on ten minutes,
he failed to discover
any living thing what-
ever. His surprise
when I pointed out
the moth was delight-
ful, and sufficiently
compensated me for
any annoyance I had
suffered. The wings
of the insect, mottled
with every shade of
green, pink, yellow,



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE




The Marbled Green Moth (var. par,

Hiibner) is sluggish, and spends most of

its daylight existence in sleep.

brown, grey and black, so harmonized with
the broken, lichen-spotted stone that for
all practical purposes it was invisible to
the inexperienced eye.

Both the marbled green moth and the
marbled beauty (B. per la) are alike in tastes
and habits. At night they fly to the flowers
and honey- dew on which they feed, coming
freely also to " sugar " the moth-hunter's
trap or to light ; but by day they rest,
motionless, on old lichen-covered walls.
This is far the most interesting time to
search for them. In attempting to secure




them it will be found that the marbled
beauty is more lively than its relative. It
will leave its nook and attempt to escape,
whereas the latter, when discovered, con-
stantly changes its position as if loath to
leave the wall. It seems to spend the
greater part of its daylight existence in
sleep. This sluggishness may perhaps
account for its restricted range, for it is
seldom found far from the coast. The
farthest inland that I have discovered it
is Lewes, Chichester and Barnham, in
Sussex. I have also found it at Deal,
Folkestone, Eastbourne, Brighton, Portslade,
Worthing, Bognor, Gosport, all over the
Isle of Wight, and Paignton in Devon ; it
also occurs at Dawlish.

A variety (var. impar) of it is also taken at




When discovered, the Marbled Green

Moth (var. suffusa, Tutt) constantly

changes its position.



The wings of the Marbled Green Moth (5.
muralis) are mottled with every shade of
green, pink, yellow, brown, grey and black.

Cambridge, but it is an unsolved mystery
how this sub-species became established
so far inland.

It is interesting to note that Newman in
his " British Moths," has a record of speci-
mens of B. muralis as occurring on the
canal bridge in the Old Kent Road,
London, S.E., but also notes that " he has
not seen it for twenty-five years."

The eggs of both the marbled green and
the marbled beauty are deposited on walls
covered with minute vegetable growths and
lichens. When first laid they are pale cream
in colour, but on the second day pink mark-
ings appear, which change eventually to a



190



CURIOSITIES OF INSECT LIFE



plum colour with orange triangles down the
back. As soon as the larvae are hatched
they begin to feed on what vegetable matter
they find on the lichen-covered stones, and
at intervals of feeding return to rest in a
little cocoon of their own spinning. As
they increase in size, larger cocoons are
made. When irritated they eject a fluid,
green in the case of the one and brown in
the other. Both larvae can be found
plentifully after a shower of rain, wandering
about the walls and feeding in the day-time.



Cocoon of the Marbled
Green Moth on a wall.
Its larva will often make
two cocoons and pupate
in the one at the back.

bright red in the former,
and in the latter to a deep
crimson. The larvae of
the two species are strik-
ingly different ; the mar-
bled green is blue-grey
with a line of grey
markings, while the mar-
bled beauty is of a deep




The Marbled Beauty Moth (B. perld) is more lively than its

relative ; when discovered, it will leave its nook and attempt

to escape.

191



Another illustration of the
Marbled Beauty Moth
which lays its eggs on walls
covered with minute vege-
table growths and lichens.

The larva of the mar-
bled green will often make
two cocoons, and pupate
in the one at the back.
I have found these cocoons
in all kinds of situations
in crevices in walls, in
out - of - the - way corners
under copings, on the
ground in friable dust
that has been blown into a
corner, and under moss on
the top of the walls.
When working for pupae
I have found it very
profitable to search some



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



wall that faces a street lamp, acting on the
assumption that after a moth is tired of
staring at a light, it will most probably
alight on a wall close by and there lay its
eggs.



The final cocoons
which they pupate,



of both species, in
are much tougher



second week in June, and lays a single egg in
the larva, which hatches out in a day or two
and proceeds to feed on the moth larva.
The latter, however, is able to pupate. The
parasitic larva continues to gorge itself in-
side the pupa, in which it remains through-
out the winter, to emerge as a fly the follow-




VAR1ETIES OF THE MARBLED GREEN MOTH (BRYOPHILA MURALIS).

The descriptions refer to rows in order left to right, top to bottom. Except
where otherwise stated, the specimens are from Brighton and Eastbourne.
Row I. 1. Blue-green, with black markings. 2. Green replaced by pink,

with black markings. 3. Black, with dark olive shading (Devonshire). 4. Black, with

n shading (Isle of Wight). 5. Rich blue-green, reddish markings, fringe plain,
ow II. 1. Rich brown, black markings (Devon). 2. Yellowish-green, black
markings. 3. Very pale grey, fawn markings. 4. Deep olive-green, no white
(Devon). 5. Pale green, fawn markings.

Row III. 1. Pale green, no dark markings, mealy appearance (var. suffusa,
Tutt). 2. Pale fawn ; slightly darker fawn markings (var. par, Hubner).
3. Blue-green, mealy, black markings (var. viridis, Tutt). 4. Dark olive-green,
olive markings. 5. Dark grey ; grey markings. This is the form most nearly
agreeing with the var. impar (Warren), which occurs at Cambridge.