CHAPTER II 



THE SCOLI^ 



WERE strength to take precedence over 

 the other zoological attributes, the 

 Scollae would hold a predominant place 

 in the front rank of the Wasps. Some 

 of them may be compared in size with the 

 little bird from the north, the Golden-crested 

 Wren, who comes to us at the time of the 

 first autumn mists and visits the rotten buds. 

 The largest and most imposing of our sting- 

 bearers, the Carpenter-bee, the Bumble-bee, 

 the Hornet, cut a poor figure beside certain 

 of the Scoliae. Of this group of giants my 

 district possesses the Garden Scolia (S. hor- 

 torum, VAN DER LIND) , who is over an 

 Inch and a half in length and measures four 

 inches from tip to tip of her outspread wings, 

 and the Hemorrhoidal Scolia (<S. hamor- 

 rhoidalis, VAN DER LIND), who rivals 

 the Garden Scolia in point of size and is di- 

 stinguished more particularly by the bundle 

 of red hairs bristling at the tip of the ab- 

 domen. 



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