Wasps' Nests. 627 



great many of them ; while 1824 scarcely presented a solitary 

 wasp, even where they usually abound. (Forster's Encyclopaedia 

 of * Natural Phenomena, ed. 1827, p. 71, 72.) 



The measure of the means of sustentation must influence 

 the rate of reproduction in every species of organised being : 

 fruits are a staple means of sustentation to wasps.] 



[Facts on the Habits of Wasps of the Species Yespa holsatica 

 Fabr. (Synonyme, Yespa anglica Leach) : it may be* some on the 

 Habits of the Common Wasp (Yespa vulgaris).'] — Wasps have 

 again (VII. 265.) appeared here, but are not numerous. I 

 have seen five nests, all closely resembling fig. 69. in VI. 537. 

 each apparently occupied by a single individual. Accident 

 prevented my capturing more than one of the five wasps, which 

 I enclose. It is clearly a Fespa britannica, differing slightly 

 from fig. 71. in VI. 538., in the form of the yellow bands on 

 the joints of the abdomen. Many of the wasps that infested 

 us last summer (VII. 265.) were, no doubt, of this species, as 

 many nests were the same. Others, whose nests were in 

 holes in banks, were probably different; perhaps, Fespa 

 vulgaris. 



I had an opportunity, last May, of noticing in how short 

 a time a wasp's paper nest may be constructed, having seen, 

 about 10 o'clock one forenoon, one of the size and shape of 

 fig. 69., VI. 537., suspended from the very spot under the 

 overhanging bank of a pit, from which I had seen gravel 

 scooped at 1 2 o'clock the day before : the inner wall was 

 complete, and about a quarter of an inch of the second formed; 

 in the course of the day this was brought down about half 

 way ; the next day it was completed, and a third case begun ; 

 after this I left home, and found the nest destroyed when I 

 returned. During the whole time that I observed its progress, 

 the wasp seemed to be as much occupied with some work in 

 the interior (perhaps its comb) as it was with its outer cases. 

 — A Subscriber. Vale of Alford, Aberdeenshire, July 25. 1834. 



[The specimen sent we have submitted to an able ento- 

 mologist, who has replied that it is of the species V. holsatica 

 Fab., V. anglica Leach ; and has added, that this species is 

 not of solitary habits generally : " I have seen large colonies 

 of them. — E. N. D." 



In VII. 373. is a description, by the late Rev. L. Guilding, 

 of the structure of the nest (if nest, such as the above, and it, 

 should be called ; Mr. Guilding had termed them " natural 

 hives," in an observation printed in VI. 540.) of the species 

 of wasp which he has noted " is the marabunce of Deme- 

 rara."] 



An Instance of the Natural Hive {Nest) of the Hornet being 



