232 CATALOGUE OF THE DESCRIBED HYMENOPTERA OF AUSTRALIA, 



Family VESPID^. 



This family contains the two genera into which all our social 

 paper-nest wasps are divided ; in habits both groups are alike, 

 but they are easily and naturally divided into the genera Icaria, 

 small wasps in which the apical segments of the abdomen telescope 

 into each other, and Polistes, wasps usually much larger and having 

 all the segments of the abdomen closely fitted together, and pointed 

 at the apex. The nests of the first are usually irregular in shape, 

 while those of the latter are mostly round, and sometimes they 

 attain a considerable size. The young wasps when hatched hang 

 head downwards, and are fed by the attendant adults with small 

 spiders. Fabricius described several of our commonest species, but 

 it is to Saussure that we are indebted for most of the information 

 about this group (Monograph des Guepes Sociales [1853-58]). 



171. ICARIA. 

 Icaria, Sauss, Mon. Guepes Soc. p. 22 (1853). 

 CABETi, Sauss. I.e. p. 26, 4, t. 5, fig. 2, 



Tasmania. 

 GREGARIA, Sauss. Ent. Zeit. Stettin, XXIIT. p. 137 (1862). 

 PLEBEJA, Sauss. Mem. Soc. Phys. Geneve, XVTI. pt. 1, 

 p. 235 (1863). 

 1050 REVOLUTiONALis, Sauss. Mon. Guepes Soc. p. 29, 7, t. 5, fig. 7. 

 Tasmania and Australia. 

 ROMANDi, Le Guillou (Polistes), Ann. Soc. Ent. France, X. 

 (1), p. 322 ; Sauss. Mon. Guepes Soc. p. 41. 

 Australia. 

 sociALiSTiCA, Sauss. Mon. Guepes Soc. p. 27, 5. 



Tasmania. 



172. POLISTES. 

 Polistes, Latr. Hist. Nat. Ins. XIII. (1804). 

 BERNARDii, Le" Guil. Ann. Soc. Ent. France, X. (1), p. 23 ; 



Sauss. Mon. Guepes Soc. p. 70, 29. 

 ERYTHRiNus, Holmgren, Eugenies Eesa, Hym. p. 440 

 (1858-68). 

 1055 FACiLis, Sauss. Mon. Guepes Soc. p. 53, 9. 

 Australia. 



