VESPA CRABRO. 221 



Worker. Length 5-6^ lines.— This sex is coloured like the 

 female, but is rarely found without the red spots on the abdo- 

 men ; the two yellow spots on the scutellum are always present. 



The Male is more subject to variation than the worker; and 

 some beautiful highly coloured examples occur, the first and 

 second segments having the yellow replaced by red. 



This is the true Vespa Britannica of Leach ; the typical spe- 

 cimens described are in the Cabinet of British Hymenoptera 

 in the Collection of the British Museum, with the name attached 

 in the handwriting of Dr. Leach ; the specimens are very well 

 represented in the ' Miscellany.' The worker is depicted w ith the 

 characteristic quadrate black spot on the second segment of the 

 abdomen, and with the ferruginous tint on each side : the figure 

 of the female is also good ; the anchor-shaped black stripe on 

 the clypeus is distinctly given. I have never seen a specimen 

 without it ; whilst in V. sylvestris 1 have always found the 

 clypeus of the female immaculate, or at most with a minute 

 black dot. British examples of the female of this species have 

 only occasionally the red spots on the abdomen, and the yellow 

 ones on the scutellum ; in a fine series of specimens, bred from 

 u nest in my own apartment, they were only one in twenty. It 

 is impossible to decide whether the nest figured in the ' Mis- 

 cellany' is intended to represent that of the wasps figured— pro- 

 bably not; it is in the British Museum, labeled "taken near 

 Edinburgh." M. de Saussure has fallen into an error in sup- 

 posing this species to be V. sylvesiris ; the nest figured may 

 possibly be so, but the insects are undoubtedly Vespa Xor- 

 vegica. 



This species is rare in the South and West of England ; it is 

 not uncommon in Yorkshire, and is frequently found building in 

 o-ardens in gooseberry-bushes ; it also builds in fir-trees. In 

 Scotland it is abundant ; I have also received it several times 

 from Ireland. Examples which I have seen from Northern 

 Europe are much more highly coloured than British specimens. 



A collector of Lepidoptera" found this insect very troublesome 

 at night when sugaring trees, &c, to attract moths; the wasps 

 were enticed more numerously than the Lepidoptera, and re- 

 sented being disturbed in their enjoyment. 



7 Vespa Crabro. 



V. magna; capite rufo, clypeo flavo; thorace rufo nigro-macu- 

 lato ; abdomine rufo-fusco, segmentis late flavo-marginatis. 



