258 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



have been sparingly collected in this country, and it may therefore be of 

 interest to relate my own experience in procuring them. 



In 1891, while studying the insects that attack the orange in Florida, 

 I had occasion to examine the nests oi Polistes Americanus (Fab.), which 

 are very commonly found in orange trees. This species is one of the 

 largest in the genus, and its sting is quite equal in severity to that of our 

 white-faced hornet. It is, moreover, very active and belligerent in defend- 

 ing its home, so that the investigation of its social economy is attended 

 with considerable danger and difficulty. However, it is not inclined to 

 be irritable unless directly attacked, and with care I was able to 

 approach sufficiently near one of their large, naked paper nests to observe 

 all their movements without seriously alarming the colony. One of my 

 first discoveries was that many of the adult wasps were stylopized. Some- 

 times eight or ten of the parasites distended the body of a single wasp, 

 and this without destroying its life, although it could be seen that such 

 overburdened individuals were lacking in vitality, and appeared to be on 

 the sick list, as they rarely left the shelter of the nest. The older wasps 

 were actively engaged in attending to the wants of the colony, and were 

 constantly departing and returning with small caterpillars and other in- 

 sects, which, after masticating into pulp, they fed to the young, both larvae 

 and images. The callow young, however, passed several days of their 

 adult existence in a state of inactivity, and did not leave the vicinity of 

 the nest, apparently acquiring their full powers, both mental and physical, 

 rather slowly. I soon found that only these late comers in the colony 

 carried about with them the undisclosed males of the parasite. The pupa 

 cases found in the bodies of the older wasps were invariably collapsed and 

 empty. This decided me to take possession of the nest and confine it in 

 a vivarium, where I could study the young wasps from the time of leaving 

 their cells in the comb. After some difficulty, and not without carrying 

 away with me a few tokens of the vengeance of its defenders, I bore 

 away the comb in triumph, and suspended it in a small box with sides of 

 glass, through which I could observe everything that transpired. Through 

 the wooden end of the box I inserted a tube filled with sweetened water 

 and closed with a bit of sponge. I included in the box, as caretakers for 

 the young, one or two fully adult wasps. These soon resigned themselves 

 to their new surroundings, and not only themselves drank liberally at the 

 feeding trough, but also attended to the wants of the larvae and the newly 

 disclosed wasps, which immediately began to make their appearance from 



