00 HYMENOPTERA. 



rence; of forty specimens taken in August last, only eight or 

 nine exhibit tlie usual bright coloration ; others have only 

 a faint tinge of red along the apical margins of the segments. 



1 have observed a similar dulness in the colouring of Hy- 

 menopterous insects generally, and, from the observations of 

 previous seasons, am induced to attribute the effect entirely 

 to the want of the proper degree of heat necessary to bring 

 out the usual brilliancy of these insects. 



I must now refer to the concluding paragraph of the 

 remarks on Hymenoptera in the Annual of last year ; after 

 having particularly noticed Dr. Ormerod's paper on two 

 species of wasps, in which the deposition of fertile eggs by 

 workers w^as apparently confirmed, I observed, that since those 

 remarks were sent to the press a paper by Mr. S. Stone had 

 been read at a meeting of the Entomological Society, in which 

 the deposition of fertile eggs by worker wasps received further 

 confirmation ; but, as in Dr. Ormerod's paper, it appeared 

 that not only workers were developed from such eggs, but 

 that it was left undecided whether males also were produced 

 from them, I was of opinion that the subject required much 

 further, and even more careful, observation. Notwithstanding 

 the interesting entomological enigma involved in the unsatis- 

 factory state of the case, the subject by no means excited the 

 interest which might have been ex))ected. 



The very fact of opposite results having presented them- 

 selves, in the development of wasps, to those so clearly 

 established by Dr. Siebold in the case of -the hive-bee, 

 appeared to me a circumstance of such surpassing interest 

 that I instantly determined, if possible, to investigate the 

 subject with every possible care during the following season ; 

 it has not however fallen to my lot to discover one solitary 

 fact. 



It is however gratifying to find that the investigation of 



