Almost all insects have interesting ways of caring for their young, but few of them show as much skill as the wasps. Some wasps build little houses of mud for their babies. Others make nests of paper. Some dig caves in the earth, and some saw out little cells in wood.

When the house is built, each mother goes out to hunt for food to stock the house. Young wasps are very particular about their diet. Some will eat only spiders, some beetles, some flies, and many of them will eat nothing but living food.

The females in each species travel long distances to find just the right insect. Then they seize it with their powerful jaws and carefully insert their poison-laden stings into the nerve centers of the insect. This poison does not kill the insect, but paralyzes it completely so that the meat will keep fresh until the young wasps are ready to eat it.

Wasps belong to the same group of membrane-winged insects as the bees and ants. Their many species are divided into two groups. Social wasps work together to build homes and supply food for their young. Solitary wasps always work alone.

These two groups can be distinguished by the fact that the social wasps carry their wings extended like fans, while most solitary wasps let them lie flat on their backs.

All wasps look somewhat alike. They ah have four transparent wings and three pairs of legs. The females always have long, slender stinging organs attached to the lower parts of their bodies.

Their mouths are fashioned both for chewing and for sucking, for they five on the juices of fruits and on the bodies of other insects. Some wasps live entirely on honey.