PSYCHE 



THE WORKERS OF VESPA CAROLINA DR. RESEMBLE IN 

 COLORATION THE MALES. A CORRECTION. 



BY C. H. TURNER, AUGUSTA, GEORGIA. 



H. W. Lewis in his paper^ on the " Vespinae of the United States and Canada," 

 says that the worker of J'espa Carolina is similar to the female though smaller. This 

 is an error which it is the purpose of this article to correct. The color pattern of the 

 worker is similar, not to that of the. perfect female, but to that of the male. 



The above statement is based upon a careful study of the contents of a large nest 

 of Vespa Carolina Dr. which I dug out of a red clay bank in Atlanta, Ga., October 

 10, 1904. The nest was six stories high and contained several hundred workers, 

 several hundred males and several dozen perfect females, besides numerous young 

 in all stages of development. 



The color pattern of the perfect female tallies well with that published by Lewis 

 (1. c, p. ISO), hence it is evident that Lewis and I are discussing the same species. 

 Since I captured my specimens in the nest, it is evident that the males and workers 

 in my possession belong to the same species as the perfect females. A study of this 

 nest would enable even a casual observer to note that the worker resembles in color 

 pattern, not the perfect female but the male. Indeed, the workers and perfect females 

 are so unlike that one capturing the two in the field, and having no clue to their 

 identity save Lewis' paper, would assign them to two distinct species. It is in the 

 color pattern of the abdomen that the contrast is noticed; although even on the 

 head the pattern is not the same on that of the worker and perfect female. 



A description of the perfect female is omitted from this article because such a 

 description would be merely a repetition of Lewis' work. The black and white 

 figure of the perfect female [fig. 5] which accompanies this paper will serve to show 

 how unlike the worker [fig. 1] it is. The usual length of the females in this nest was 

 21 mm., but some specimens were only 19 mm. long. The head varied in length 

 from 2 mm. to 3 mm., in width from 5.5 iiim. to 6. mm., in height from 5.5 mm. to 

 6 mm. The thorax varied in length from 6 mm., to 7 mm., in width from 6 mm. to 

 6.5 mm., in height from 6 mm. to 0.5 mm. The abdomen varied in length from 11 

 mm. to 13.5 mm., in width from 6 mm. to 8 mm., in height from 5.75 mm. to mm. 



1 Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. XXIV, June, 1897, p. 180. 



