Nov., 1897.] '" 285 



A MYSTERIOUS IRISH WASP. 



Vespa austriaca, Panz. (arborea, Smith). 



by h. k. gore cuthbert. 



This species was first described as a British wasp by Mr. 

 Frederick Smith in 1837, in the first volume of the Zoologist, 

 then edited by Edward Newman. Since that date the insect 

 has been taken in different parts of England and Wales, rang- 

 ing as far north as Yorkshire. I believe it has once been 

 recorded from Scotland. It was first placed upon the Irish 

 list by Mr. Carpenter in 1893, on the occurrence of three 

 specimens at Fassaroe, near Bray, in North Wicklow ; and has 

 since been recorded from County Dublin by Messrs. Halbert, 

 Low, Rathborne, and myself. One example has been taken 

 by Mr. Freke at Borris in County Carlow. 



My captures of the insect have been by far the most 

 numerous, amongst those who have collected it in Ireland. 

 In 1894 I took four specimens, in 1895 seven, in 1896 three, 

 and this year (1897) ten. About half of these were taken in 

 my own garden at Blackrock, and the rest in the grounds of 

 the Nursery at Monkstown. 



I have always found the wasp in most abundance about the 

 end of June, and never far from the vicinity of bee-hives. 



M. Andre, in his " Hymenopteres d'Europe," states that the 

 species known to British collectors as Vespa arborea, Smith, is 

 identical with the Continental Vespa austriaca, first described 

 in the last centur}^ by Panzer, a wasp which has a rather 

 restricted range in Central Europe, occurring in Switzer- 

 land and the Tyrol. 



Both males and females of V. austriaca are known to 

 collectors, but it differs from all the social wasps to which it 

 structurally belongs, in the non-occurrence of workers, or 

 neuters. Hence it is believed by Continental entomologists 

 to be an inquiline, or resident in the nest of some of the social 

 species ; a view supported by Mr. R. Newstead in the 

 Ejitomolo gists' Mo7ithly Magazi7ie for 1894. 



No collector of Aculeate Hymenoptera in Great Britain or 

 Ireland has yet met with the male of V. arborea, although 

 the males of all our other indigenous Vespce are well known. 



A 



