214 INSECTS. 



in any convenient receptacle which offers itself; Mr. 

 Smith mentions a pistol-barrel, a piece of folded paper, 

 and the hollow reeds in thatch, as having been chosen 

 for this purpose by 0. quadratus, a species which on 

 other occasions burrows in old posts. 



The young student will find no difficulty in distin- 

 guishing the Odyneri, the pear-shaped abdomen and stalk 

 of the Eumenes sufficing to mark that genus, while the 

 bifid claws of the Solitary Wasps divide them from the 

 Social. The species are all black marked with yellow. 



The cells of Odijnerus Antilope (PI. VIII., fig. 4) 

 found by Mr. Smith in sandbanks, may very commonly be 

 observed built up of mud, in the crevices formed by the 

 perpendicular mouldings round doors, windows, &c., 

 long mud tubes filling these hollows. The writer has 

 seen the joints in a wooden summer-house filled by such 

 cells from three to six or eight inches in length, and 

 containing alternately a single Wasp-grub and six or 

 seven emaciated green caterpillars. The little mothers 

 appear to prefer a warm aspect for their young, fre- 

 quently choosing a south wall, exposed to the full heat 

 of the sun. 



The second family, Vespid, contains the Social 

 Wasps, of which there are in England seven species. 

 They are divided into' the Ground-wasps and the Tree- 

 wasps, but their habits are not invariable, large nests of 

 the Ground-wasps being occasionally found suspended in 

 the roofs of houses and other such situations. 



The Social Wasps, like the Social Ants and Bees, con- 

 sist of males, females, and workers or small imperfect 

 females, and their economy, though differing in some 

 important details, is to a great extent similar. One point 

 of difference is, that while the societies of Bees and Ants 



