Vespa At Her Toilet

The wasps are a bit sluggish in the cold but loving the sugar rush from the ripe grapes. Mine is cleaning its antennae. In the bend of the fourth and fifth joints of each foreleg is the cleaner, which consists of a flattened prong or valve hanging from near the lower end of the fourth joint and of a curved groove at the upper end of the fifth joint. This groove is fitted with a circle of teeth. When the antenna is to be cleaned, the leg is raised above it, the antenna is slipped along until it rests in the groove, then the leg is flexed, the valve or prong fits down over the antenna, and as the latter is pulled through, the edges of the valve on one side, and the teeth of the groove on the other, clean it perfectly.