OBSERVATIONS ON HYMENOPTEROUS PAPERS, ETC. 87 



to our common stock of knowledge, what interesting yearly- 

 records would enrich the pages of the Annual ! 



The most interesting paper on British Hymenopter 'a, which 

 has appeared during the past season, is probably that on the 

 habits of the Vespidce by Dr. Ormerod, published in the 

 Zoologist. Several conclusions arrived at by the author are 

 exceedingly striking, if not in fact quite new ; how far sub- 

 sequent observations will tend to confirm them, time alone 

 can determine; but feeling perfectly assured that they are 

 the offspring of no previously conceived theory, and that the 

 paper is a record of the conscientious opinions of an unbiassed 

 naturalist, and that they are based upon carefully followed- 

 out observations, and of well-digested facts, the conclusions 

 demand, on our part, an equally conscientious and deliberate 

 consideration. 



That every colony of wasps is founded by a single female, 

 that has passed the winter in a state of torpidity, has long 

 been a generally received opinion; as also, that she is the 

 sole architect of the nest, until such time as worker wasps 

 are developed, and ready to take upon themselves the future 

 enlargement of the nest and the nursing of the young brood. 



Dr. Ormerod is inclined to a different opinion, at least as 

 far as regards the Vespa Britannica ; this wasp builds its 

 nest on trees or low bushes, from the latter situation a nest 

 was procured ; on its removal, four stragglers from the ori- 

 ginal nest immediately set about the building of a second ; 

 this was also subsequently removed, and again a number of 

 stragglers constructed a new one ; in neither of these cases 

 was any individual wasp seen so much larger than the rest 

 as to be considered the queen par excellence; the second 

 and third nests both contained eggs and larvae. Had a queen 

 or mother wasp existed amongst either set of stragglers, 



