UK BEES AND WASPS [OH. 



CHAPTER IX 



COLLECTING AND PRESERVING ACULEATE 

 HYMENOPTERA 



THE atmospheric conditions necessary for securing 

 specimens of these insects are such as would inevit- 

 ably tempt most of us to be out in the open rather 

 than indoors. The solitary species are hardly ever 

 to be seen except on bright sunny days ; and even 

 when the weather is favourable to their activity, a 

 passing cloud temporarily veiling the sun will cause 

 the majority of them to rest motionless on the ground, 

 and to go within the shelter of their burrow if it be 

 nigh at hand, or to take refuge among the leaves and 

 twigs of neighbouring vegetation. The social forms, 

 impelled perhaps by a sense of duty to the community, 

 continue their work under conditions far less alluring ; 

 humble-bees and social-wasps may often be seen on 

 the wing on comparatively dull and cheerless days, 

 or even during light rain. Moreover, these are indus- 

 trious through a far longer period of the day, and 

 frequently toil for some time after sunset. I have 

 often found wasps on "sugar" placed on trees for 

 the sake of capturing moths when I have visited the 

 baited trunks with a lamp in the early hours of the 

 night; and have witnessed hornets returning to their 

 nest in the dim twilight of a September evening. On 



