72 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The number of British social wasps, including the hornet, 

 — which is legitimately a wasp, in the language of Science, — 

 is but seven ; and these are rendered so perfectly clear by 

 Mr. Smith's descriptions that we scarcely needed Dr. Or- 

 merod's. 



One hundred and twenty-six pages are devoted to the 

 anatomy and physiology of the wasp, although the author 

 modestly informs us he does " not propose to enter into a 

 detailed account of the anatomical structure of wasps." On 

 reading that portion of the essay on structure which relates 

 to the thoracic mass, I cannot say that I think the author has 

 avoided that confusion which he so feelingly deprecates. He 

 says truly " not a little difficulty has been thrown over the 

 subject by confusion in the nomenclature of the various parts 

 of the thorax." Dr. Ormerod has not escaped this confusion, 

 since it appears to me that the thoracic mass consists oifour 

 segments instead oi three, and therefore that any nomenclature 

 of parts founded on the assumption that they are but three 

 must be erroneous. 



Again, Dr. Oimerod says, " The morphological nature of 

 the loose ring or collar which surrounds the neck has been 

 the subject of much discussion, but it is now pretty generally 

 agreed that it represents the sternal portion of the thorax, 

 aud should, strictly speaking, be called the prosternuin.^' 

 Now, when I look at the excessive dorsal development of 

 this "loose ring" in Janus, Phylloecus and Cephus, I cannot 

 conceive how the term \>xosternam can be applied to it: the 

 sternal area of an insect is the under side, and the terms 

 "prosternum," " mesosternum" and " metasternum" are con- 

 stantly applied to the under side of the pro- meso- and meta- 

 thorax, and not to any portion of the dorsal surface. The 

 word " sternum," and no one knows this better than Dr. Or- 

 merod, is applied to the breast : the breast-bone in man or in 

 a bird is the sternum, and hence by analogy, not by homology, 

 the term sternum has been applied by entomologists to the 

 under side of the thorax of an insect, and no part of the dorsal 

 area can with propriety be called a sternum or prosternum, 

 or breast or breast-bone. 1 know next to nothing of the 

 inlernal anatomy of the wasp, and am willing to take it for 

 granted that our author has exhibited more precise know- 

 ledge here. 



