HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



!09 



NATURAL HISTORY JOTTINGS. 



On Wasps, chiefly. 



(Continued from p. 42, vol. xxi., 1885.) 



/I UGUST 30///, 1883.— In the bright sunshine 

 yJL this afternoon, a wasp was observed flying 

 about over some patches of cow dung, and occasion- 

 ally alighting thereon, obviously on the look out for 

 prey. After hawking about and over the dung for 

 some time (during which I frequently saw flies dart 

 out of its way), it eventually pounced upon one of 

 the large orange-yellow dung-flies that are almost 

 invariably found at such substances, seized it with its 

 powerful mandibles, and, after some manipulation, 

 flew off with its prey without biting off the wings, as 

 I have on a former occasion observed the wasp do. 



September 1st. — To-day I saw four workers of the 

 Vespa vulgaris feeding on the carcase of a young pied 

 wagtail that lay on ,the top of a low dyke. The 

 breast of the bird had been denuded of its feathers, 

 and also of most of the flesh, leaving the bones of 

 the breast and abdomen nearly bare, and exposed. 

 Some of the wasps were fully three-parts concealed 

 within the carcase, and were very actively biting off 

 portions of the flesh from the interior of it, which 

 they, sometimes at least, bore away. Later in the 

 day, on again looking at the dead bird, which lay 

 upon its back, I observed the tip of the abdomen of 

 one wasp projecting from beneath the head, and on 

 turning over the carcase, it was found that a hole had 

 been eaten out in the back of the skull, and that the 

 wasp was feeding on the semi-liquid contents therein. 



September loth. — A strong nest of the Vespa vulgaris 

 was, to-day, observed to be dying out. There were 

 only a few of the workers flying in and out, and on 

 pulling out the large stone in the face of the dyke 

 behind which the nest had been built, many more 

 were discovered lying dead. Though there were 

 plenty of workers still within and about the nest, 

 living, the majority of them were comparatively 

 sluggish. There were also many males, or drones, 

 in the nest living, some of which had not been long 

 out of the cells ; but only one large perfect female, or 

 queen, was found, and she was evidently the old 

 queen, the foundress and mother of the colony. 

 There were six tiers, or platforms, of comb, and in 

 both of the two lowermost there were male nymphs 

 in the cells, still living, though other of the cells 

 contained larvae and nymphs that were dead and 

 being preyed upon by a dirty-white dipterous (?) 

 larva, which was present in great force. The nest 

 was only five inches in diameter vertically, and six 

 inches horizontally, while the diameter from front to 

 back was much less, as about one-third of the front, 

 in section, had been omitted, the face of the remain- 

 ing larger section having been brought close up to 

 the back of the large stone lying" in front of the nest. 

 This portion of the nest was imperfect, the upper 



tiers of comb being clearly distinguishable when the 

 stone was removed, having only been partially 

 covered in with the paper walls, which, as usual, 

 consisted of small convex brittle pieces of wasp-paper, 

 composed of comparatively coarse fragments of rotten 

 wood. Between the nest and the cavity in which it 

 had been built, there was all around a space only 

 large enough to admit of the wasps creeping in and 

 around. The two uppermost tiers of comb had 

 become mouldy. „ Obviously this nest had been a 

 failure, through a non-development of the perfect 

 females, or queens. 



September \\th. — To-day numbers of male wasps 

 sat at the entrance to a nest of the Vespa vulgaris, 

 within a large cavity caused by the removal, on a 

 former occasion, while attempting to take this nest, 

 of some stones in the face of the dyke in which the 

 nest is built. Several of these were captured, and 

 others took flight on being disturbed. 



September ijt/i. — Was again at this nest in the early 

 forenoon, the sun at that time being unclouded and hot, 

 and found the males still swarming about the mouth 

 of it, within the cavity, as well as a few strong on the 

 wing and active workers flying about it, though not 

 so many as on the 14th inst. There were also many 

 of the worker-wasps lying dead within the cavity, as 

 well as a few of the males or drones ; but there were 

 present none of the large perfect females or queens, 

 either living or dead. On pulling out another large 

 lower facing-stone, the very large nest was revealed, 

 and was found to contain nine tiers or platforms of 

 comb, a few of the males that had evidently crept 

 back into it during the disturbance to which it had 

 been subjected, and a few dead workers, but not a 

 single queen. There were, however, hosts of empty 

 nymphs, out of which had been devoured the viscera 

 and other organic structures, leaving only the empty 

 skin or integuments ; there were thus treated both 

 males and workers, many of which had partially cut 

 through the tough silken cap or covering of their cell, 

 ere succumbing to their fate. Many nymphs there 

 were, too, within whose bodies was located in num- 

 bers the small dirty-white dipterous (?) larva observed 

 on Sept. 10th, preying upon the larvae and nymphs 

 of the nest described under that date ; and the 

 question naturally arose whether this larva had been 

 the cause of death in both these instances, or whether 

 death was due to other agencies, and it had since 

 appeared upon the scene, as many other dipterous 

 larvce do. The nest was of the usual shelled and 

 brittle character, and was attached all around the 

 cavity to fibrous roots and stones, and one of its tiers 

 of comb was in two nearly equal halves or segments, 

 having thus been built up. To all appearance this 

 nest has been a failure, as well as the one taken on 

 Sept. 10th ; and both probably from the same cause, 

 namely, the non-development of the large perfect 

 females, or queens ; the fact of the males, or drones, 

 lingering so long about the nest favours the idea of a 



