168 Mr. E. Saunders' Synopsis of 



1. Vespa crdbro, Linn. 



Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. x., vol. i., p. 572 ; Fig. Smith, 

 Brit. Foss. Hym., &c., p. 221 ; pi. v., fig. 10. 



Red-brown ; sides of the mesothorax and a line down 

 the middle darker ; mandibles, except the black apical 

 margin, clypeus, face, scape of the antennae beneath, 

 head behind the eyes, apex of the 1st abdominal segment 

 narrowly and regularly, apex of the 2nd widely and 

 irregularly, and the whole of the remaining segments, 

 except two or three spots at the base, yellow ; beneath 

 yellow ; each segment with two or three brown spots ; 

 surface hairy, more densely so in the <? , in which sex the 

 antennae are considerably longer than the thorax, and the 

 joints beneath sinuate. Head and thorax punctured. 

 Wings yellowish brown, Abdomen rather remotely 

 punctured. Legs with projecting hairs, and covered 

 with a fine, very short, silky pubescence ; front femora in 

 the male densely fringed beneath. Length, <? 23 — 25 

 mm., ? 25 — 30 mm., ^ 18 — 23 mm. 



Hah. This insect (our common hornet) is common in 

 many places, and makes its nest in decayed trees or out- 

 houses. F. Smith says that it has been found also in a 

 bank. 



2. Vespa vulgaris, Linn. 



Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. x., vol. i., p. 572 ; Panz., Faun. 

 Germ., 49*, 19; Fig. Smith, Brit. Foss. Hym., &c., 

 p. 215 ; pi. v., figs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20. 



Head finely punctured, covered with long black hairs. 

 Eyes almost touching the mandibles, which are yellow, 

 except at the apical margin. Clypeus yellow, with a 

 black stripe down the middle, widening at the apex; 

 in the <? this stripe is often reduced to a spot. Face 

 above the clypeus black, with a yellow spot on each side, 

 in the sinus of the eyes, and a transverse trapezoidal 

 spot between the antennae. Antennae in the $ with a 

 yellow spot on the scape. Thorax hairy, and finely punc- 

 tured like the head, with a line on each side from the 

 tegulae to the anterior margin ; a sj)ot below the tegulae, 

 a spot on each side of the scutellum, two spots on the post- 

 scutellum, and two on the metathorax, yellow. Abdo- 

 men clothed with short pale hairs, yellow, with a black 

 band at the base of each segment, the bands slightly 



