NESTS OF THE SYi\(ECA. 



503 



"'August 19, 1864. — Watched them more narrowly and care- 

 fully. Saw that one caught at least ten Termites, one after the 

 other, and made them all up into a ball with its jaws, when the 

 said ball was taken away, evidently to feed the young larvae 

 with a rich and juicy morsel, which, however, would be strongly 

 tinctured with acid/" 



This very interesting history requires, in order to make it 

 thoroughly intelligible, the account of the Yellow Ant (CEcophylla 

 smaragdina), to which several allusions have been made, and 

 whose exploits will be remembered in connection with the 

 fiercely-stinging Polistes. 



Like the generic name of Polistes and Ajpoica, that of Synceca 

 is given on account of the mode of nest-building. The term is 

 composed of two Greek words, 

 and literally signifies an assem- 

 blage of persons living under 

 the same roof. 



There is rather a peculiarity 

 about the nests of the Syncecas. 

 They are not suspended by foot- 

 stalks, but are affixed through- 

 out their whole length to a 

 branch, a tree-trunk, or similar 

 object, and have the entrance 

 below. The mouth of one of 

 these nests is shown in the 

 illustration. p 1G , 



The outer shell, or covering of 

 the nests, is exceedingly thin 



— scarcely thicker indeed than the paper on which this account 

 is printed, and yet is quite strong enough to resist the weather. 

 Within the nest the combs are placed in regular layers, like 

 those of the common wasp, and the shell is so thin that 

 the edges of each successive layer is distinctly marked on the 

 exterior. In consequence of this peculiar surface, added to the 

 dark brown of the paper covering, the nest bears so close a 

 resemblance to the bark of the tree or branch to which it is- 

 fastened, that a very quick eye is needed in order to discover 

 it. As is the case with most of the Social Wasps, the nest is 



-Synceca ecerulca. 



(Blue.) 



