CHAPTER VI. 



SOCIAL WASPS AND HORNTAILS. . 



OF the Vespidce, or social wasps, we have seven British 

 species, , including the hornet, which is by far the largest 

 and most easily recognisable. The discrimination of the 

 other species is not by any means an easy matter, and 

 needs a very close attention to minute details. But 

 the hornet is at once distinguished both by its size 

 and colour; its hues are brown and yellow, instead of 

 black and yellow, as is the case with all the other 

 species. 



Before, however, we can properly understand the 

 differences of the species, or the reasons for their in- 

 vasion of our homes and their pilfering of our food, 

 it will be needful to sketch the life-history of a Vespa. 

 As the plan is nearly the same in all, we need not at 

 present particularise species, but only premise that we 

 choose a subterranean, as being more common than 

 an arboreal builder. 



We begin with a fine old female, or queen, as she 

 is called, whom the warmth of advancing spring has 

 aroused from her long winter sleep. She is an ancient 

 dame, one of the few relics of a past generation. She 

 is, too, a widow, having lost her spouse at the advent 

 of the previous winter, because his constitution, like 

 that of all his compeers, was unable to endure the 

 rigour of the frosty season. His progeny are all 



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