TRANSLATOR'S NOTE 



This is the second volume on Wasps in the 

 Collected Edition of Fabre's Soircenirs en- 

 tomologiques. The first of these was The 

 Hunting JFasps; and the present volume is 

 somewhat wilfully entitled, for all Wasps 

 hunt in varying degrees, if not on their own 

 behalf, at least on that of their young. My 

 object, however, was to bring together all the 

 essays treating of those Wasps who actually 

 build homes or nests, as distinct from bur- 

 rows. The last book on Wasps will be 

 called More Hunting IVasps and will be is- 

 sued towards the end of the series. 



For reasons which will be easily apparent 

 to the reader, I have reprinted the chapter 

 called Instinct and Discernment, which was 

 included in Bramble-bees and Others, and 

 that on the Volucella, which, under the title 

 of The Bumble-bee Fly, formed part of The 

 Life of the Fly. Apart from the two chap- 

 ters named and the essay on the Eumenes, 

 which figures in The JVonders of Instinct, 

 pubhshed in America by the Century Co., 



