Bald-faced hornet to laying eggs while the workers take over all other necessary housekeeping tasks. At some point, sometime before the midpoint of colony life, the colony will begin to invest energy in producing reproductives as well. This marks the transition into the reproductive stage. There is an extensive time period where both workers and reproductives are raised. Production of both castes limits the size of the work force. However, an early switching time is highly adaptive for social wasp colonies in limiting the risk of total loss. In a sampling of 50 colonies taken in Maryland in 1977, workers were produced
An Egyptian Hornet An Egyptian Hornet An Egyptian Hornet is a short story written by Algernon Blackwood. The story has first appeared in 1915 in "Reedy's Mirror". Rev. James Milligan goes for his morning bath. On his way to the bath he encounters an Egyptian Hornet in the hallway leading to the bathroom of the hotel he is staying in. At first the hornet frightens him. Then in his mind he describes the hornet in which, to his own disgust, he uses a more feminine erotic terminology. As he hesitates to enter the bathroom, an other guest in the hotel Mr. Mullins, is