Hymenopterous Insects. 539 



suspended from the roof of a balcony, and directly over the 

 entrance to the sitting-room from the garden. These insects 

 worked at the nest and completed it, notwithstanding it was 

 in sight of every person in the room, it being also a common 

 sitting-room. — William Fowler. June 13. 183& iol elrlj gni 

 What is the Name of the Species of Wasp described below, 

 which had built its Nest suspended from the Forks of two or 

 three contiguous Branchlets of a Pear Tree ? — That it is not 

 the Fespa holsatica, you will see at once by the sketch of the 

 nest that I enclose [this, and the sketch of the insect, an 

 entomologist has pronounced to be of the V. holsatica], 

 drawn from a specimen I found in a pear tree in a nursery- 

 man's grounds at Brixton. I cannot find any account of 

 the precise species in Shaw, Kirby and Spence, Rennie, or 

 Griffith's Cuvier. In the 39th number of The Penny Maga* 

 zine there is a slight account of a nest of the same form^ 

 and which, I have no doubt, is by the same species of wasp 

 as mine. The writer has not described the wasp, and evi- 

 dently considers the nest the work of the common wasp. 

 The wasps, however, are very different in form and markings, 

 as you will perceive even from the imperfect drawing of a 

 dead specimen ; nor does it appear at all likely that an insect 

 would so change its usual place of security. I regret I am 

 too ignorant to describe the wasp scientifically; but of all 

 those wasps, prints of which I have been able to obtain, the 

 J 7 espa holsatica most nearly resembles my specimen, although 

 the nests are so different. The nest in my possession, whos$ 

 builder's name I wish to learn, offers the following dimensions : 

 -r- Shape somewhat that of an inverted egg or pear. Around 

 the centre, 19 in.; depth inside, 8 in. The comb fell out, 

 which was S\ in. in diameter. It adhered to the top of the 

 nest by the whole of the upper part of the comb ; not by a 

 central pillar, as is the case in the nest of the Fespa holsaticav- 

 Part of the comb broke in two; and the lower part was, by 

 accident, lost. All the pupas were covered with a little dome 

 of paper, and were placed in separate circles from [those of] the 

 maggots. The comb contained about 400 cells. The largest- 

 sized wasp in the nest measured nearly three quarters of an inch, 

 and very much resembled Shaw's Fespa britannica; two palpi 

 having one joint each, and then dividing into two branches, 

 which had each three joints. The greater number of the 

 wasps were of a smaller size ; scarcely half an inch long. In 

 one I observed a curious bifid tongue, covered apparently 

 with minute spines. The antennae of each of the pupas, 

 before the wings were disclosed, were exceedingly long, 

 reaching more than half the length of the pupa. After the 



