VESPA RUFA. 217 



the best character beiug apparently the crown-shaped spot 

 above the clypeus (see Plate v.). In V. vulgaris, the halberd- 

 shaped spot is almost always to be seen on the clypeus ; in 

 V. Germctnica it is rarely found, but in its place an abbreviated 

 line at the base, and two minute spots at its extremity. 



Male. — Very like a variety of V. vulgaris, which has three spots 

 on the basal segment, and the lateral spots on the other seg- 

 ments separated from the black basal bands ; in this species 

 they are very seldom, if ever, united, whilst in V. vulgaris 

 they are usually so. The insect is also much less pubescent, 

 particularly the abdomen. 



Not so abundant about London as V. vulgaris, but apparently 

 as widely distributed in Britain. 



3. Vespa rufa. 



V. nigra, flavo (rufoque) variegata; thorace utrinque linea hu- 

 merali, scutelloque punctis duobus flavis ; abdominis seg- 

 ments flavo-marginatis, duobus primis medio runs aut flavis. 



Vespa rufa, Linn. Faun. Suec. 416. 1672 ; Sy.it. Nat. i. 949. 5 ; & 

 Cab. Mus. Linn. Soc. 9 • 

 Fabr. Syst. Ent. 364. 10 ; Ent. Syst. ii. 258. 15 ; Syst. Pie:. 



256. 13. 

 Schrank, Ins. Austr. 390. 788. 

 Christ. Hym. 236. t. 22. f. 3. 

 Lair. Hist. Nat. des Crust, et Ins. xiii. 352. 5. 

 Zett. Ins. Lapp. 454. 4. 

 St. Farg. Hym. i. 517.15. 

 Curtis, Brit. Ent. xvi. t. 760 $ , $ . 

 Smith, Zool. i. 167. 3, f. g $ , h ? , i $ . 

 Sauss. Mon. Guepes Soc. 120. 4. t. 14. f. 5. 



Female. Length 8 lines.— Black ; the mandibles, clypeus, and 

 a crown-shaped spot above, a line on the lower margin of the 

 sinus of the eyes, and an abbreviated line behind them, yellow ; 

 the clypeus with an anchor-shaped black mark in the middle, 

 the line in the middle sometimes abbreviated. Thorax : an 

 oblique line on each side before the tegulee, and two spots on 

 the scutellum, yellow ; a spot beneath the wings, and the tibiae, 

 tarsi, and tips of the femora, yellow, more or less stained with 

 ferruginous. Abdomen yellow, with three transverse spots, 

 usually united by a ferruginous stain ; the second segment with 

 a broad black band at the base, and three transverse spots be- 

 yond, the central one usually united to the black band, which 

 is widest in the middle, the spots surrounded more or less by 



I, 



