216 VESPA GERMAMCA. 



middle; the second and following segments with a black dot 

 on each side. 



Var. a. The black dots united to the black basal band on one, 

 two, or all the segments. 



Var. j3. The line on the clypeus without the angular termina- 

 tion, or with one or three spots. 



J J orker. Length &J-7 lines. — Very like the female, but differs 

 iu having a large yellow spot on each side of the metathorax ; 

 the basal segment has an angular spot in the middle, and a 

 dot on each side, black ; the black dots rarely united to the 

 black bands. 



Male. Length 6-8 lines. — Differs in having the scape yellow 

 in front ; the markings of the clypeus differ, as in the female ; 

 the scutellum and post-scutellum as in the worker; the abdo- 

 men has a black baud at its base, as in the female, and the 

 segments are similarly spotted ; the spots are, however, more 

 frequently united to the black basal bands. 



Found in all parts of the United Kingdom, usually appearing 

 in April ; but on the 13th of February, 1^59, the weather being 

 unusually mild, a female was seen on the wing at Hampstead. 

 Mr. Wollaston found the female very abundant under stones on 

 the extreme summit of Yribon Oernant, near Llangollen, in 

 September 1854 ; probably hybernating for the winter. 



2. Vespa Germanica. 



V. capite thoraceque nigris flavo-variis ; abdomine flavo ; seg- 

 ments singulis nigro-bimaculatis, segmento primo trimaculato- 

 nigro. 



Vespa Germanica, Fabr. Eut. Syst. ii. 256. 12 $ ; Syst. Piez. 256. 10. 

 St. Fary. Hym. i. 515. 13. 

 Panz. Faun. Germ. 49. 20 $ . 

 Ratz. Forst. Ins. Bd. iii. 51. 

 Herr. Schdff. Faun. Germ. 179. 2. p. 35. 

 Smith, Zo'jI. ix. Append, clxxvii. 

 Sauss. Man Guepex Soc. 116. 3. pi. xiv. f. 4, 4a, 4 c. 



Female. Length 8^-9 lines. — Very like V. vulgaris, but known 

 at once bv the three spots on the basal margin of the first seg- 

 ment of the abdomen; the clypeus has sometimes a central 

 black line descending to the middle, or only three minute 

 black spots. 



Worker. — Usually larger than those of V. vulgaris; the large 

 workers considerably so, but difficult to distinguish from them, 



