Proceedings II 
I have now come to the end of my notes on Fossorial 
Hymenoptera. One of their most interesting points is the 
manner in which they sting their prey in such a way as to 
pierce the chief nervous ganglia. This paralyses the 
victim, depriving it of the power of motion, while it retains 
sufficient vitality to resist putrefaction, and thus a supply 
of perfectly fresh food is provided. The species of Bembex, 
which visit their burrows periodically, kill their prey out- 
right, as it is to be devoured at once. 
Of the Diploptera, or true Wasps, the very common 
Vespa vulgaris is a good representative. The hibernated 
females, or queens, appear early in the spring and at once 
proceed to select a suitable spot for nest-building. A hole 
in a bank, especially under a stout root of a tree, is gener- 
ally the favoured situation. In this the queen Wasp makes 
a nest of a small number of cells, suspended mouth down- 
wards by a stalk from the roof. The whole of the struc- 
ture is made of the pulp formed by the chewing of wood 
from a well-seasoned post or fence. Wasps are practically 
omnivorous. The queen carefully tends and feeds the 
grubs which are hatched from eggs laid in the cells men- 
tioned, until the time when they are full-fed. When full- 
grown they spin a covering to the mouth of each cell, and 
quickly undergo the change to the perfect insect. As soon 
as they emerge, they take on all the work of building and 
enlarging the nest, feeding the larva, and keeping all 
clean, the queen having but little to do except laying eggs. 
The Hornet is simply a large species of wasp, brown 
and yellow in colour, instead of black and yellow, as in the 
ordinary wasps. Although occasionally nesting under- 
ground, it more often builds in a hollow tree, or in the 
roof of an out-house. 
The British Tree-wasps, V. sylvestris and V. norvegica, 
usually build in branches of trees or bushes, but the 
first named occasionally builds underground. 
V. austriaca, which is rare as a British species, is sus- 
pected of being an inquiline, living in the nests of other 
wasps. 
