226 The If ish Naturalist. September, 



dashes that characterise the female. But very extensive 

 variation is to be noticed in both forms. The anchor-mark 

 of V. rufa may not reach the edge of the face (fig. 2), or it may 

 become reduced to a central patch (fig. 3), to three minute 

 touches (fig. 5), or to a terminal trident mark (fig. 4). Then, in 

 certain examples of V. austriaca^ we find that the face shows 

 black marks like those of the aberrant rufa males just men- 

 tioned (compare tigs. 3, 4, 5, with figs, iii., iv., v.). Moreover, 

 in some of these aberrant rufa males, it will be seen that the 

 yellow crown-mark above the face is larger than usual (figs. 3, 5), 

 while in the aberrant austriacanx'sX^'^ iX. is sometimes smaller 

 than usual (fig. v.). The edge of the face also is less markedly 

 concave in the black-spotted austriaca forms (fig. iii.) than in 

 the normal immaculate specimens (fig. i.), while in some of the 

 feebly-marked ;'?{/« forms it is decidedly concave (fig. 5). The 

 scape of the feeler, which in many 7nifa males is entirely 

 black, as in the queens, may show a yellow patch as large as 

 that which characterises austriaca (fig. 3). The males of 

 V. imfa vary much more than the females. It is remark- 

 able that no queen or worker of V- 7'ufa examined b}^ us 

 shows an}^ trace of yellow on the scape of the feeler, but of 

 twenty-eight queens of V. aicstiiaca, five have the usual 

 yellow mark ver}^ faint, and in two the scape is entirely black 

 as in V. rufa. Further, some austriaca queens, taken at Bray 

 by Mr. Barrington during the present year, have a black 

 trident-mark exactl}' like that of the 7ufa male (fig. 4) referred 

 to above. 



Turning next to the abdominal segments, we find that the 

 basal segment of V. austriaca is, in many cases, not longer 

 absolutely than that of F. rufa, but that it only appears so, 

 because the segment in V. 7 2ifa is always broader than in 

 V. a7cstriaca. Some specimens of the former wasp have, 

 however, the basal segment narrower than usual (fig. 13), and 

 some examples of the latter have it broader than usual 

 (fig. xiii.). There is thus a tendency in each of the forms to 

 vary in the direction of the other ; yet the narrowest ?tifa 

 abdomen we have measured is broader than the broadest of 

 austriaca. Viewed in profile, the front slope of the basal 

 segment in V. austriaca is steeper than in V. rufa, though 



