Lord Avebury, in his Ants, Bees and Wasps, tells us that he has known a male of Myrmica ruginodis live for nine months, although no doubt, as he says, they generally die almost immediately, and he has known queen ants to live for seven years, and workers, which he had in his nest, for six years.
THE SOCIAL WASPS
Of these we have only seven different kinds, and with the exception of the hornet they are all very much alike. One often hears people say that they have seen such a large wasp that they think it must have been a hornet, but no one who has ever seen a hornet could mistake a wasp for one. A hornet is red-brown with yellow markings ([pl. B], 13), a wasp is black and yellow, and altogether a less formidable-looking creature ([pl. B], 14). Even a queen wasp is not so large as a small worker hornet. The hornet nests in hollow trees, our three commoner wasps nest, as a rule, in the ground, but occasionally in outhouses, under roofs, etc. One of the others as a rule makes its nest in shrubs, but occasionally in the ground, another always nests in a bush or shrub, preferring a gooseberry or currant bush, and the only remaining one is a cuckoo of one of the ground species. The gooseberry-bush
wasp is not a common species in the south, but in the midlands and north it is abundant. Wasps will eat most things, but are especially fond of syrups and sweets. One species, Vespa sylvestris, which seldom enters our houses, is very partial to the flowers of Scrophularia (Figwort). One rarely finds a plant of this in full blossom without finding its attendant wasps. I have seen other species of wasps also visiting it, but sylvestris is practically sure to be there. The diet which wasps provide for their larvæ is probably a mixed one, but consists largely of insects. Dr. Ormerod says that a microscopic examination of the contents of a larval stomach shows "the mass to consist of scales, hairs and other fragments of insects, hairs of vegetables and other substances less easy of recognition."
10. Colletes succinctus, female. 11. Sphecodes subquadratus, female. 12. Halictus leucozonius, female. 13. Vespa crabro, female. 14. Vespa vulgaris, female. 15. Andrena fulva, male. 16. Andrena fulva, female. 17. Panurgus banksianus, female. 18. Nomada ruficornis, var. signata, female. 19. Epeolus rufipes, female.
[face p. 36.