Insect architecture / [Anon].

  • James Rennie
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Insect architecture / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    » < To / INSECT ARCHITECTURE. _ their united bottoms form a nearly uniform level upon which the inhabitants of the nest may walk. We have seen, in describing the economy of the carder-bee, that when a young bee had escaped from its cradle-cell,.and so rendered it empty, that cell was subsequently appropriated to the: storing of honey. - But in the case of wasps, a cell thus evacuated is immediately cleaned out and repaired for the recep- tion of ‘another grub—an egg being laid: in it by a female wasp as soon as it is ready. When the.foundress wasp has completed a’ certain ~ number of cells, and deposited eggs in them, she soon intermits her building operations, in order to procure food for the young grubs, which now require ‘all her care. Ina few weeks these “become perfect wasps, and lend their ‘assistance in the extension of | the edifice; enlarging ‘the original coping of the foundress by. side walls, and forming another plat- form of cells, suspended to the first by columns, as that had been suspended to the ceiling. In -this manner several’ platforms of combs are constructed, the outer walls being extended at the _ same time; and, by the end of the summer, there is eenerally- from twelve to fifteen platforms of cells. Each contains about 1060 cells—forty-nine being contained in an inch anda half square, and, of course, making the enormous number of about 16,000 cells . in one colony. Réaumur, upon these data, calculates that one vespiary may produce every year more than 30,000 wasps, reckoning only 10,000 cells, and each serving successively for the cradle of three genera- tions. But, although the whole structure is built at the expense of so much labour and ingenuity, it has- searcely been finished before the winter sets in, when - it becomes nearly useless, and serves only for the abode of a few benumbed females, who abandon it on the approach of spring, and never return; for.
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