§9.41#1τῶν δὲ σφηκῶν ἐστὶ δύο γένη.
There are two kinds of wasps.
Τούτων δ’ οἱ μὲν ἄγριοι σπάνιοι, γίνονται δ’ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι, καὶ τίκτουσιν οὐ κατὰ γῆς ἀλλ’ ἐν ταῖς δρυσί, τὴν μὲν μορφὴν μείζους καὶ προμηκέστεροι καὶ μελαγχρῶτες τῶν ἑτέρων μᾶλλον, ποικίλοι δὲ καὶ ἔγκεντροι πάντες καὶ ἀλκιμώτεροι, καὶ τὸ πλῆγμα ὀδυνηρότερον αὐτῶν ἢ ἐκείνων· καὶ γὰρ τὸ κέντρον ἀνάλογον μεῖζον τὸ τούτων.
Of these, the wild ones are rare, and they are produced in the mountains, and they build their nests not under the ground but in oak trees; in shape they are larger, longer, and darker in color than the other kind, and variegated, and all of them have stings and are more aggressive, and their sting is more painful than that of the others; for indeed their sting is proportionally larger.
Οὗτοι μὲν οὖν διετίζουσι, καὶ ὁρῶνται καὶ τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐκ δρυῶν κοπτομένων ἐκπετόμενοι, ζῶσι δὲ φωλοῦντες τὸν χειμῶνα· ἡ δὲ διατριβὴ ἐν τοῖς ξύλοις.
These, then, live through the year, and they are seen flying out even in winter when oak trees are being cut down, and they live by hibernating during the winter; and their haunt is in the wood.
Εἰσὶ δ’ αὐτῶν οἱ μὲν μῆτραι οἱ δ’ ἐργάται, ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν ἡμερωτέρων· τίς δ’ ἡ φύσις τοῦ ἐργάτου καὶ τῆς μήτρας, ἐπὶ τῶν ἡμερωτέρων ἔσται δῆλον.
And among them some are queens and others are workers, just as among the tamer ones; and what the nature of the worker and of the queen is will be clear in the case of the tamer ones.
Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ τῶν ἡμέρων σφηκῶν δύο γένη, οἱ μὲν ἡγεμόνες, οὓς καλοῦσι μήτρας, οἱ δ’ ἐργάται.
For there are also two kinds of the tamer wasps: the leaders, which they call queens, and the workers.
Εἰσὶ δὲ μείζους οἱ ἡγεμόνες πολὺ καὶ πραότεροι.
And the leaders are much larger and tamer.
Καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐργάται οὐ διετίζουσιν, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἀποθνήσκουσιν, ὅταν χειμὼν ἐπιπέσῃ (φανερὸν δ’ ἐστὶ τοῦτο· τοῦ γὰρ χειμῶνος ἀρχομένου μὲν μωροὶ γίνονται οἱ ἐργάται αὐτῶν, περὶ τροπὰς δ’ οὐ φαίνονται ὅλως), οἱ δ’ ἡγεμόνες οἱ καλούμενοι μῆτραι ὁρῶνται δι’ ὅλου τοῦ χειμῶνος καὶ κατὰ γῆς φωλεύουσιν· ἀροῦντες γὰρ καὶ σκάπτοντες ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι μήτρας μὲν πολλοὶ ἑωράκασιν, ἐργάτας δ’ οὐθείς.
And the workers do not live through the year, but all die when winter comes on (and this is manifest: for at the beginning of winter their workers become sluggish, and around the solstice they are not seen at all), but the leaders, called queens, are seen throughout the whole winter and hibernate under the ground; for many people while plowing and digging in the winter have seen queens, but no one has ever seen a worker.
Ἡ δὲ γένεσις τῶν σφηκῶν ἐστὶ τοιάδε.
The generation of wasps is as follows.
Οἱ ἡγεμόνες ὅταν λάβωσι τόπον εὔσκοπον ἐπιόντος τοῦ θέρους, πλάττονται τὰ κηρία καὶ συνίστανται οὓς καλοῦσι σφηκωνεῖς τοὺς μικρούς, οἷον τετραθύρους ἢ ἐγγὺς τούτων, ἐν οἷς σφῆκες γίνονται καὶ οὐ μῆτραι.
When the leaders find a convenient place as summer approaches, they shape the combs and construct what people call small wasp-nests, consisting, for instance, of four cells or nearly that number, in which wasps (and not queens) are produced.
Τούτων δ’ αὐξηθέντων πάλιν μετὰ τούτους ἄλλους μείζους συνίστανται, καὶ πάλιν τούτων αὐξηθέντων ἑτέρους, ὥστε τοῦ μετοπώρου τελευτῶντος πλεῖστα καὶ μέγιστα γίνεσθαι σφηκία, ἐν οἷς ὁ ἡγεμών, ἡ καλουμένη μήτρα, οὐκέτι σφῆκας γεννᾷ ἀλλὰ μήτρας.
When these have grown, they construct other larger nests after them, and when these in turn have grown, still others, so that at the end of autumn the wasp-nests become most numerous and largest, in which the leader, called the queen, no longer generates wasps but queens.
Γίνονται δ’ οὗτοι ἄνω ἐπὶ τοῦ σφηκίου ἐπιπολῆς μείζους σκώληκες ἐν θυρίσι συνεχέσι τέτταρσιν ἢ μικρῷ πλείοσιν, παραπλησίως δ’ ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς κηρίοις τὰ τῶν ἡγεμόνων.
These are produced as larger grubs at the top on the surface of the wasp-nest, in four adjacent cells or slightly more, in a manner very similar to the cells of the leaders in beehives.
Ἐπειδὰν δὲ γένωνται οἱ ἐργάται σφῆκες ἐν τοῖς κηρίοις, οὐκέτι οἱ ἡγεμόνες ἐργάζονται, ἀλλ’ οἱ ἐργάται αὐτοῖς τὴν τροφὴν εἰσφέρουσιν· φανερὸν δ’ ἐστὶ τοῦτο τῷ μηκέτι τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἐκπέτεσθαι τῶν ἐργατῶν, ἀλλ’ ἔνδον μένοντας ἡσυχάζειν.
But when the worker wasps are produced in the combs, the leaders no longer work, but the workers bring food in for them; and this is manifest from the leaders no longer flying out like the workers, but remaining inside and keeping quiet.
Πότερον δ’ οἱ περυσινοὶ ἡγεμόνες, ὅταν νέους ποιήσωσιν ἡγεμόνας, ἀποθνήσκουσιν ὑπὸ τῶν νέων σφηκῶν, καὶ τοῦθ’ ὁμοίως συμβαίνει, ἢ καὶ πλείω χρόνον δύνανται ζῆν, οὐδὲν ὦπταί πω· οὐδὲ γῆρας οὔτε μήτρας οὔτε τῶν ἀγρίων σφηκῶν οὐδείς πω ὦπται ἑωρακώς, οὐδ’ ἄλλο τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν πάθος.
But whether the leaders of the previous year, when they have produced new leaders, are killed by the young wasps, and this happens likewise, or whether they can live for a longer time, has not yet been observed; nor has anyone ever been seen to have observed old age in either the queens or the wild wasps, nor any other such condition.