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Even the toughest human family may have its white sheep—and so it is
with wasps. While most wasps are busy disrupting picnics with their predatory
lifestyle, others are meekly gathering pollen and nectar to feed themselves and
their young. Sarah Gess describes the ecology of this group in The Pollen Wasps
(Harvard University Press, £31.50/$49.95, ISBN 0 674 68964 X). The
Masarinae subfamily’s 300 species are found in hot, dry climates around the
world and are particularly common in Gess’s home, South Africa.