n the winter. Still, the
temperature of ordinary mountains always approaches that of the plains
in summer, and, one would have expected, was in Britain at least
sufficiently high to rouse these Wasps in their winter quarters, when
every other insect under the same stones was active and stirring, and
the air so warm and bright that _Larentia salicata_ and _Crambus
furcatillus_ were sporting in the mid-day sun above them. Such, however,
was not the case, and when turned out of their snug, dry quarters, they
allowed themselves to be handled and put into pill-boxes just as they do
in winter. We may therefore ask, when are these sleepers to awake? for
as the ground temperature reaches its maximum during the months in which
I have met with them, and Mr Wollaston has found them in a similar
state in September, when a declining temperature has set in, we must
conclude that for that year all prospect of their subsequent issue from
their retreats through the influence of heat is barred. Can this be
called hybernation, as it is usually understood? Or is there some other
cause of torpidity besides mere cold? Or are we to conclude that when
once put to sleep in these lofty regions, they wake no more unless
kindly removed into a milder clime by a stray entomologist, when, as I
have always noticed, they become as active as those of the warm
lowlands?"[109]

Mr Westwood, in the conversation that ensued on this communication,
suggested that these female Wasps had been the founders of colonies in
the preceding spring, and, after performing their maternal duties, had
retired to die in the situations in which they were found by Mr Wailes.
But with all due deference to so great an authority, is not this another
example of those "explanations" which are thrown off without a due
consideration of the exigencies of the case in hand--explanations which
really explain nothing? For though this hypothesis might account for
Wasps found under such conditions in June, it will not do for the
September findings. Insects that had performed the end of their
existence and had retired to die in June, would not live through July
and August, and be found alive in September. Besides, Mr Wailes
distinctly affirms, that _they always become active_ when removed to a
milder clime, which is proof positive that they had not retired to die.
Mr Smith's hypothesis, that they are "probably hybernating for the
winter," will not account for their torpidity in June and Jul