Observations about Wasps, and the Difference of Their Sexes. By the Reverend Mr. Derham, F. R. S. Prebendary of Windsor

Parallaxim nullam sensibilem, et si pluries inten- taverim, deprehendere potui; proindeque maxima ejus distantia à terra credenda est. Haecenus Illusterrimus Dominus Franciscus Bian- chini in Mathematicis Scientiis apprimè eruditus, & in observando, quoad noverim, accuratisimus. Ejus observatio à nostra, mea scilicet, ac Prioris Dominicii Capassi vix in uno aut altero minuto quoad latitudinem dilcrepavit, caeterum omnino conformis. Quapropter nec illam hic arbitror apponendam. IV. Observations about Wasps, and the Difference of their Sexes. By the Reverend Mr. Derham, F.R.S. Prebendary of Windsor. In the Beginning of July last 1723, having fre- quent occasion to be on the Top of our Collegiate Chapel in Windsor Castle, I observed many Wasps fly- ing about it, and particularly frequenting a Covering of Deal Boards, and the Pieces of Timber lying on the Leads. I took notice that most of these Wasps were of a larger sort than usual, and thought they came thither to gnaw the Wood, and to carry it away in Mouthfuls to build their Nests; the Artifice of which I have taken notice of in my Phys. Theol. particular- ly B. 4. ch. 11. note 21. and chap. 13. not. 12. But having caught some of them, and amongst the rest a large Queen-Wasp (which sort of Wasp, by the by, never engages in any Labours of the Colony) I be- gan to be more strict in my Observations; and on Ju- ly 6. I observed a Cluster of only three Wasps closely embracing each other; one of which was a large Fe- male Wasp, the other two of a lesser fort. This more excited my Curiosity. And soon after, I found 8 or 10 Wasps closely hanging together, and divers other such like Parcels. In the midst of all which was constantly a Queen-Wasp, and only one; the rest being always of a different Sort from either the Queen or the common Wasps; which gave me a Suspicion of their being Male and Female. And therefore examining another Company of them with greater Strictness, I found the Queen-Wasp, in coitu, with one of the other Wasps, so closely joined Tail to Tail, that it was some Time before they were parted. After this I caught all the Wasps I could, on the top of our Chapel, but could not see one of the common labouring Wasps among them; but all were for the most part Male Wasps, with now and then a Queen, or Female, among them, and she generally in coitu. And now from this History of my Observation, it appears, That there are three sorts of Wasps; The Queens, or Females; the Kings, or Males; and the common Labouring-Wasps; each of them very distinct. The Queen, or Female-Wasp (by many called the King-Wasp) is much longer in the Body, and larger than any other Wasp. The Male Wasps are lesser than the Queens, but as much longer and larger than the common Wasps, as the Queen is longer and larger than these. These Males also have no Stings, which the Queens and common Wasps all have. And these are those which Moufet faith Authors call Ἀκεντρούς, and take to be Females, although he is of another Opinion, imagining all Wasps to have Stings; upon his examining a Wasp's Nest Nest, at Ham, Anno 1587, in which he found no Wasps without a Sting. But I wonder how that curious Enquirer missed of these sting-less Male Wasps. Surely he was too hasty in his Examination, and not being aware of the difference, he thought the Males (which are but few in number to the labouring Wasps) were the same and had Stings as well as the rest; or else he made his Enquiry at a Time when perhaps the Males had deserted the Nest, which probably they may do, as the Male or Drone-Bees are forced to do: or else the Year 1587. (in which Moufet made his Observation) might produce fewer Wasps, at least fewer Male Wasps, than this last Summer of 1723. did, in which I made my Observation; which was observed to have a greater abundance of Wasp-Nests than hath been known in many Years. And in all the Nests that I searched into, I constantly found Male Wasps, either many or few, according to the Size of the Nest, and Number of Wasps therein. And the Part of the Nest where these Males are bred, or at least where I found them most to reside, was chiefly the two uppermost Cells, or Partings, between the Combs, but one. But to return to the Distinction of our Male Wasps. Another thing by which they may be known from other Wasps, is their Antennae, or Horns; which are longer and larger than either those of the Queen, or common Wasps; and with them they seem, in running, to feel more than the others do. But the grand and chief Difference, are the Parts of Generation of these Male Wasps, quite different from other Wasps. Which I dissected with all Care, and shall give a Description of, as well as I can, without Figures, which I could not get drawn, partly for want of a Designer, and partly from my Removals between Windsor and Upminster: in which Time the Parts are so dried up, or eaten with Mites, that they cannot be drawn till the Return of Wasp time. For the Discovery of these Parts, if the Alvis be pressed, an Horny or Shell-like Part will be thrust out, of a shining black Colour, which consists of two Parts like Shells, somewhat resembling the Castagnets used in Dancing; at the extreme Part of each of which grows an Hook, somewhat like those of the Earwig's Tail, but much lesser; in the Middle, between these Hooks, appear three Parts, the middlemost of which is a stiff brown Tube, very curiously made, with the Fore-part like a Spoon or Lad e, and the other End (within the Body) is neatly branched and braced to each Side within the two Shells I spake of. A little above which Branching, is a θουξίνον or Swelling, like that of a Dog's Fizzle, and perhaps serves for the same Use, if this Tube is (as I imagine it is) the Penis of the Wasp. On each Side this Penis, lies a stiff Part (in Number two) branched at the Top with somewhat like Hairs, giving them the Resemblance of Brushes. At the Bottom of which are two curious black Cells, with an Opening on one Side like that of the Concha Veneris, with small whitish Hairs growing on one Edge thereof. What the Use of these two Brush-like Members may be, I know not, unless it be to strengthen and support, or direct the Penis in coitu, or provoke therein. Behind all these Parts, which I have described, more within the Body lies a long contorted white Vessel; which at first I took to be the real Penis, penetrating the Ladle-like Tube I spake of. But upon farther Examination, I rather take it to be the Spermatick Vessel. As to the Use of the two little Hooks I mention'd at the End of the Vropygium, or Shells, I take them to be, to catch hold of the Female's Podex, and to direct and assist the Penetration of the Penis in coitu. As for the Parts of Generation in the Queen, or Female-Wasps, nothing was to be seen so remarkable as in the Male; but those Parts are very like what we see in the common Labouring-Wasps: Indeed, with the most accurate Observations I could make with my Microscopes, I could not perceive any Difference at all. For which Reason I suppose it is that most of the Writers upon Wasps and Bees, have been very confused and wavering about the Sexes of these two Tribes of Insects. It would be endless to cite the Authors and their Opinions, especially concerning the Bee-Tribe. I think Swammerdam (a) (who as he was one of the first that rejected Equivocal Generation, so was one of the most judicious Writers of Insects) that his Opinion, I say, is the most just, viz. That of Bees, there are three Sorts, viz. 1. Rex, aut verius Regina, siquidem sequioris sexus est. 2. Fuci, qui Masculi proprie sunt. 3. Apes Operariæ, quarum Sexum distinguere non possimus, cum in illis nec Masculas nec Feminas partes observemus: quae perbellè distinguntur in Fucis seu Regibus, & Reginis, qua tralatitio errore Reges solent salutari. In Reginis certè invenimus Ovarium apud incomparabilem illum Anatomum Joh. van Horne, &c. As for what is related by Aristotle, Pliny, Virgil, or any other ancient Authors, or by our more numerous Moderns, concerning the Production of Wasps out of Horses, or Bees out of Oxen or young Bullocks; as also of their Polity, their Emperours, Kings, Dukes, and common Subjects, their exact discipline and justice, (a) Swam. Hist. Insect. p. 92. their strict Temperance, and other Virtues, with a great deal more of such like Stuff: This is so very whimsical, that it is not worth while to take any farther Notice of it: But there is a Story seriously told by Moufet, (b) that deserves our Observation, viz. That in the Year 1582, being on the highest Ridges of the Cartmel-Hills, (I suppose in Lancashire) he saw among the Rocks two Species of Wasps desperately fighting: That they differed only in Magnitude; that the larger trusted to their Strength; and the lesser to their Numbers, there being six of the lesser engaged against only one of the larger size, and that the Battle was not in the Air, but among the Grass, and lasted for some Hours in the hottest Sun, not being at an end in two or three Hours space. The Cause of this Engagement Moufet thinks was, that the great Wasps are wont to rob the lesser of their Honey and Young, or do them some other such like Mischief; and the lesser being very revengeful, and naturally full of Courage, did outbrave even Mars himself in assaulting their Enemy. But this Engagement I take to be such another, as that which I have given the History of, namely one under the Conduct of Venus, not of Mars. And as there is no Doubt to be made of its being such, and that the Engagement seen by Moufet was on the highest Tops of Cartmel (in summis Cartmeli montium jugis) as that I saw was on the very Top of our Chapel, it may deserve Observation, whether the Wasps ever copulate in lower Places, obvious to Disturbance, and every one's Eye, or only on such Eminencies where they can be more out of Sight, and consequently in greater Safety: And if at any time they should be found in Copulation, they may all (b) Moufet Theat. Insect. l. i. c. 8. all with Safety be seized with the naked Hand, provided it can be secured against the Queen-Wasp, which is the only one in the Company that is provided with a Sting. For a Close of these Observations about the Sexes of Wasps, I shall take Notice of Moufet's Experiment, (which I try'd) viz. If you take a Wasp by the Feet, and suffer her to buzz, that those Wasps, which have no Stings, will fly to her, but not any that have Stings. Which some, he faith, use as an Argument to prove that some Wasps are Males, some Females. This Experiment I was minded to try with a Queen-Wasp, more especially, not knowing but that Wasps, particularly the Males, might be as fond of their Queens, as the Bees are of theirs, who will not forsake them, but will live and die with them. But I did not find it to succeed so among the Wasps. For although I put some Queen-Wasps, and others also, near the Entrance of some large Wasp-Nests, yet I did not see any Flock near them, only now and then one of the common Wasps, for a little while, to see their Fellow confined. But indeed the Queen-Wasps which I confined were weak, and did not buzz long; as also the time of Copulation was probably past, it being August 12. when I try'd the Experiment.