VESPID^E. 211 



marginal fasciae ; sometimes a fascia on the fifth, but usually a 

 yellow spot on this, as well as on the apical segment ; the fascia 

 on the basal segment notched in the middle, that on the second 

 and third continued beneath. 



Male. Length 6 lines. — Differs in having the mandibles and 

 clypeus yellow ; the spot between the antennae sometimes obso- 

 lete ; the spots on the scutellum also obsolete : otherwise re- 

 sembling the female. 



This species is generally distributed. It provisions its cells 

 with the larvae of Lepidoptera. 1 have reared it from the egg ; 

 the burrow was formed in a sand-bank, whence I obtained the 

 cell. It is very abundant in Yorkshire. 



Fam. 2. Vespidse, Leach. 



(Social Wasps.) 



The anterior wings folded longitudinally, having three com- 

 plete submarginal cells, the second receiving both the recurrent 

 nervures ; the eyes reniform, lateral, and extending to, or nearly 

 to, the base of the mandibles; the claws of the tarsi simple. 

 The societies consist of Males, Females, and Workers. 



The only genus belonging to this group found in this country 

 is the typical one, Vespa, of which eight species have been dis- 

 covered to be indigenous. The most beautiful examples of insect 

 architecture are the works of different species of the family Ves- 

 pidts ; in order fully to appreciate this, it will be necessary to 

 examine and study carefully a series of nests constructed by 

 the various genera of Wasps inhabiting Brazil and South Ame- 

 rica ; amongst these, the endless variety of form, the different 

 materials used in their construction, and the various textures 

 consequently produced, cannot fail to excite our wonder and 

 admiration. The nests of the Social Wasps of this country are 

 works of great beauty ; and when we examine and see the dif- 

 ferences in the construction, the adaptation of the nest to the cir- 

 cumstances likely to ensue in the various situations in which we 

 find them, we are astonished at the amount of intelligence dis- 

 played. When the common Wasp ( Vespa vulgaris) builds her 

 nest in the ground, it is enveloped in a different covering to that 

 which is constructed when the nest is built under a roof, on a 

 beam, or other similarly protected situation: the ground nest 

 has a number of thin papyraceous leaves folding over each other, 



