POLISTES. — TESPA. 399 



ments. In a few specimens I have found the line faintly marked, 

 and tlien onlv as a darker sinuate line on the rufescent brown base 

 of the 2nd and following segments. 



Hah. Throughout India, Burma, and Tenasserira ; Persia; 

 Arabia ; Egypt ; Isle of Prance. $ . Length 20-24 ; e.rp. 46-48 

 mm. ^. Length I^-IQ-, ^.rp. 36-40 mm. 



Genus VESPA. 



Vespa, pt., Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 948 0767). 

 Crabro, pt., Christ,' Natvrg. Lis. p. 217 (1791). 

 Vespa, Sauss. Mon. Gnep. Soc. p. 110 (185.3-58). 



Fig. 124. — Vespa magnifica, ^ . \. 



Type, V. vulgaris, Linn. 



Bange. All pai'ts of the world. 



Head concave posteriorly, the cheeks often much developed ; 

 eyes variable, sometimes with, a considerable distance between 

 them and the base of the mandibles, in a few cases extending 

 down to the latter ; ocelli small as a rule, in one species very large, 

 placed in a broad triangle on the vertex ; antennae filiform, in the 

 male elongate, simple; clypeus not terminated by a tooth, gene- 

 rally square, its anterior margin transverse, slightly emarginate, in 

 a few cases bilobed ; mandibles very broad, terminated by 4 strong 

 teeth. Thorax deep cubical, sometimes globose ; median segment 

 vertical, rounded, smooth ; legs stout, rather short, the claws 

 simple : wings long ; the fore wing with the radial cell elongate, 

 the 1st cubital cell the longest, the 2nd constricted towards the 

 radial cell, receiving both recurrent nervures, the 3rd obliquely 

 quadrate, the radial cell obliquely or straightly truncate at apex, 

 not acutely rounded as in Polistes, Icaria, &c. Abdomen massive, 

 cylindrical, suddenly and acutely pointed at the apex ; the 1st 

 segment never narrowed at base as in Folistes, or petiolate as in 

 Lcaria, but vertical anteriorly. 



The species of this genus seem to be cosmopolitan. They make 

 large nests of papery stuif, placed in trees, or in the ground, 

 generally at the foot of a tree, or often, in India and liurma, attached 

 to the beams under the eaves of the houses. Many species are 

 exceedingly irritable and fierce, resenting any intrusion, even at a 



