Woods, between Wrotham and Wateringbury. It was the first nest 

 of I', nnrveiiica I had met witb, and I was anxious to secure it. I 

 held my net beneath it, and a companion with his stick hooked it 

 so that it fell into the net. We then ran a distance to be clear of 

 any home-coming wasps, bottled all that emerged from the nest, 

 and wrapped the nest up and took it with us. Veapa austriaca 

 appears to dift'er entirely in habits from all its fellows. I have 

 never met with it, but, according to those who have, it never 

 constructs a nest, being more or less parasitic on V. riifa, to 

 which it seems closely allied. It has, however, been seen collecting 

 nesting material and food, so that probably it will prove to be one 

 of those insects that have not quite lost their industrious habits, though 

 largely dependent on a fellow species. All the wasps are quite 

 omnivorous, feeding on flesh, fruit, vegetables, flowers, cheese, 

 sugar, and many other substances. I have seen them attack pears 

 outside my window, gradually eating deeper and deeper until quite 

 lost to view, and I have also seen them rapidly remove the flesh 

 from a dead young bird until nothing but a clean skeleton was left. 

 I have not observed any particular association with flowers except 

 in the case of V. sylvestris, which species is particularly attached to 

 tansy and to figwort. The other species apparently visit a very 

 great number of flowers. Ivy blossom is always a great attraction 

 at the end of the season. 



The family Eiimenidae consists of two British genera of Solitary 

 Wasps, F.iiiiieneii and Odi/ncrus, the former containing but one 

 species and the latter eighteen. The pretty little Eiunenes coarctata 

 is found on open heaths, though it is very local in its distribution, 

 and I have never yet been fortunate enough to find it. It makes 

 small clay nests attached to heath and ling, and stores small 

 lepidopterous larvse. Of the numerous species of Otbjneras, a few 

 are very rare, O.basalis being known only from Dorset, 0. reniformis 

 from Surrey, O. herrichianiis from Essex, and O. ciassiconiix from 

 two or three widely separated localities. Most of the others are 

 more or less common, three or four being quite abundant. Many 

 of them nest in holes in walls and posts, making use of mud in 

 constructing their cells, or in modifying the size of the cavity 

 chosen. Two or three, at least, make use of bramble-stems, and 

 another three or four burrow into the ground. One of these 

 burrowers, (>. spinipes, makes beautiful curved tubular entrances to 

 its burrows, and the same habit is recorded of 0. renifortiih. They 

 all provision their cells with caterpillars. 



The British Bees are not so varied in their choice of provision 

 for their progeny, mostly storing pollen, a mixture of honey and 

 pollen, or honey only. They are very unequally divided into 

 " Solitary " and " Social " species, the latter containing only the 

 Humble Bees and the Hive Bee. They are much more varied in 

 their choice of a nesting site and in the structure of their cells, as 

 well as in their selection of flowers from which to collect their food. 



