HYMENOPTERA 



975 



Several of the species are known to store small quantities of honey 

 in their combs. 



These wasps are often infested by stylopids. 



Subfamily VESPIN^ 

 The Hornets and the Yellow- Jackets 



This subfamily includes those wasps that are commonly known 

 as hornets and the yellow- jackets. With these insects the body is 



Fig. 1 1 92. — 

 Vespa. 



comparatively 

 short and rather 

 stout (Fig. 1 192); 

 the abdomen is at- 

 tached to the thor- 

 ax by a very short 

 pedicel; and the 

 color is black, spot- 

 ted and banded 

 with yellow or yel- 

 lowish white. The 

 membersofthissub- 

 family differ from 

 other vespoid wasps 

 in that the hind 

 wings are without 

 an anal lobe (Fig. 

 1182). 



These wasps 

 make their nests of 

 paper, which in 

 some cases is com- 

 posed 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 another and all 

 enclosed in a paper envelope (Fig. 1193). 



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 addi- 

 tional combs below, and put on new layers on the outside of the 



Fig. 1 193. — Nest of Vespa, with side removed. (From 

 A. B. Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study.) 



