THE STUDY OF INSECTS 



tachcd to the thorax by a very short pedicel; and the color is black, 

 spotted and banded with yellow or yellowish-white. The members of 



thjs subfamily differ from 

 other vespoid wasps in that 

 the hind wings are without 

 an anal lobe (Fig. 607). 



These wasps make their 

 nests of paper, which in 

 some cases is composed of 

 fibers of weather-worn 

 wood, like that of Polistes 

 described above, in other 

 cases of fragments of more 

 or less decayed wood. 

 These nests consist of a 

 series of horizontal combs 

 suspended one below an- 

 other and all enclosed in 

 a paper envelope (Fig. 



615)- 



When the wasps wish 

 to enlarge their nest they 

 remove the inner layers of 

 the envelope, and add to 

 the sides of the combs, build 

 additional combs below, 

 and put on new layers on 

 the outside of the envelope. 

 By these additions the 

 nest may become of large 

 bv the end of the 



Fig. 615. — Nest of Vespa, with side removed, 

 stock, Handbook of Nature Study.) 



(From A. B. Com- size 



season. 



Very small empty nests consisting of a single comb with but few cells 

 and enclosed in an envelope of only one or two layers of paper are often 

 found (Fig. 616). Such a nest is evi- 

 dence of a tragedy. A queen wasp, 

 in the spring, had started to found a 

 colony. It was necessary for her to 

 go back and forth in the fields collect- 

 ing material for her nest and food for 

 her larvae. ; and before a brood of 

 workers were developed to relieve her 

 of this dangerous occupation she be- 

 came the prey of an enemy and the de- 

 velopment of the colony was wrecked. 



Two quite different types of nests 

 are made by different species of these 

 wasps, and these are made in quite 

 different situations. One kind is 

 built above ground; these are at- 

 tached to bushes or trees, or beneath 

 the eaves of buildings; they are fig. 616. — Early stage of nest of vespa. 



