in profusion in Shropshire, by the Rev. F. W. Hope ; and at 

 Southgate, not uncommonly, by Mr. Edwin Walker, in August 

 and September 1823", to whom I am indebted for the very fine 

 specimens figured in the plate, which far exceed in size any that 

 I have seen elsewhere ; and this gentleman observed, that the 

 individuals taken in August were much smaller than those that 

 were captured later in the autumn. I have seen this insect 

 alive in Norfolk : it has also been taken in Somersetshire ; and 

 my friend Mr. Dale found one in his orchard in Dorsetshire, 

 which induced us to search for a wasp's nest, which we found 

 in the neighbourhood ; and having destroyed and dug it up, 

 at night it was conveyed home in a vessel closely covered, and 

 upon examination the next morning I had the gi'atification of 

 releasing a male from one of the cells, the external figure of 

 which was sexagonal, but the operculum was circular ; and the 

 same structure is exhibited in one that Mr. Stephens received 

 from Mr. Hope. 



The eggs must be deposited in the cells of the wasps, for 

 which purpose the acute abdomen of the female is well adapt- 

 ed ; and the larvae, when hatched, are probably nourished by 

 the wasps as their own offspring : — the perfect msect, from the 

 smallness of its mouth and the weakness of its organs, cannot, 

 however, be a very formidable enemy. When it emerges from 

 the chrysalis, it leaves the nest and resorts to neighbouring 

 flowers, like the rest of the Mordelladce : the wasps therefore 

 can sustain no other injury than that which arises from the few 

 cells occupied by the larvae. 



The smaller figure in the plate (which is the natural size) 

 is the female, and from its different colour was considered 

 by Panzer a distinct species, which he called JR. angidaUis ; the 

 figure of the male is magnified, and is not only distinguished 

 from the other sex by its colour, but by its beautiful flabellated 

 antennae. 



The plant is Achillea Millefolium (Common Yarrow). 



