242 October, 



ANOTHER NEST OF VESPA RUFA-AUSTRIACA. 



BY D. R. PACK BERESFORD, D.L- 



I HAVE to record the finding of another nest of Vespa 

 ausiriaca, though unfortunately the details are of the most 

 meagre description. On August 6th I noticed aiistriaca 

 drones in large numbers on the trees on which I have caught 

 them every year lately, about the same date. On the same 

 trees I also found V. vulgaris workers in large numbers, and 

 a verj- few V. 7tifa workers. 



The method I have adopted for finding nests of V. rufa is 

 to catch a worker and hold her by one leg to a saucer of 

 honey. In a very few minutes she will, as a rule, feed rapidly, 

 and if then very quietly released will finish her meal, and 

 after some time spent in cleaning up, will fly straight back to 

 the nest. In this wa}' I tracked several into the same bed of 

 nettles, about five 3^ards back in a plantation ; and eventually 

 marked one to ground. 



A balloon fly-trap placed over the hole and left there till 

 next da}^ produced onl}' three typical rjija workers, which 

 were at once released ; and as the nest was so weak I 

 determined to leave it for a bit in the hopes of its increasing 

 in strength. 



In this, however, I was disappointed, for on trying the fly- 

 trap again about a forLnight later, not a single wasp was 

 caught. I at once dug up the nest, which was a good foot 

 below the surface and in very hard ground under a tree root, and 

 not, as in the former nest, on the surface amongst the grass. 



The nest was completely played out. and the outer covering 

 partially rotted away, though the comb was still fairly sound. 

 It contained only one solitary living wasp, and that an 

 aiistriaca drone ; but there were also about ten recognisable 

 carcases of austriaca drones, some of which were still in the 

 cells, having failed to hatch out, and one headless and tailless 

 carcase with riifa markings on the first segment of the 

 abdomen, probably a worker. 



The fabric of the nest and the comb corresponded very 

 closely to the one found in 1 902, and described by Mr. Carpenter 

 and myself^ There were two layers only of comb, both being 



^ Irish Naturalist, vol. xii., p. 22. 



