1902. Pack-BerESFORD. — Nesti)ig Habits of Vcspa Rii/a. 95 



Should subsequent observations prove this to be the 

 invariable position of the nests, it would be of great interest, 

 for, taken in conjunction with the general structure of the 

 nests, it would seem to place V. rufa in a more or less 

 intermediate position between the ground and tree building 

 species. 



Dr. Ormerod further says : *' Beyond the fact that V. rufa 

 is a ground wasp, I cannot say where its nests are likely to be 

 found. The barrenness of my cabinet is, indeed, proof that I 

 have never looked in the right place for it." Now, I have 

 often w^ondered why it was that the nests of V. rufa are so 

 rarely found, although in the spring the queens of this species 

 are one of the commonest, if not the commonest, of all wasps. 

 After finding these few nests, however, I am more inclined 

 to wonder that the nests are ever found at all. 



A field of hay might contain twenty nests without one's being 

 able to find one. The communities are so small one may 

 stand quite close to a nest without knowing it. 



Then, again, V. rufa seems to be much less irritable than 

 most wasps. One nest I found by chancing to see a worker 

 of V. rufa drop into the grass at my feet, and although I 

 pulled away the grass till I laid bare the side of the nest, not 

 a single wasp came out. 



Again, I noticed that although, as a rule, the wasps seem to 

 go in and out of the nest through one spot in the grass, they 

 could — and did on emergency — come and go through any part 

 of the grass over the nest. As a result, there was no clearly 

 defined hole ot entrance, such as one sees in other ground nests. 

 It is scarcely to be wondered at, then, that V. rufa nests are 

 so seldom found, though in reality it is a common wasp 

 enough ; but I am in hopes that these few remarks maj" give 

 other collectors a clue as to where to look for them. 



Fenagh House, Bageiialstown. 



