hymenoptbra. 253 



mortar in walls, some inches in depth, at the orifice of which 

 she forms an exterior tube, at first straight and then recurved, 

 composed of an earthy paste, arranged in thick, contorted 

 threads. In the cavity of the interior cell she places from eight 

 to twelve little green larvt« of a similar age, resembling cater- 

 pillars, but without feet, arranging them in circular layers. 

 Having laid an egg in it, she closes the orifice and destroys the 

 scaffolding without*. 

 In the others, the first ring of the abdomen is narrow, elongated, 

 and pyriform, and the second campanulate, as in 



EuMENEs, j^foper, 

 To which we may re-unite the Zethi\ of Fabricius, and the Dis- 

 ccelisX of Latrielle. 



E. coarctata, Fab.; Panz., Favm. Insect. Germ., LXIII, 12, 

 the male. Five lines in length; black, Avith yellow spots; pos- 

 terior margin of the abdominal annuli of the same colour ; first 

 ring of the abdomen elongated and pyriform, with two yellow 

 dots ; an oblique band of yellow on each side of the second, which 

 is the largest of all, and campanulate. 



The female constructs a spherical nest of very fine earth on 



the stems of plants, which, according to Geoffroy, she fills with 



honey, and then deposits an egg §. 



Sometimes the mandibles are hardly longer than they are wide, and 



are broadly and obliquely truncated at the extremity; the ligula is 



short or but slightly elongated, and the clypeus nearly square. 



These species constitute the subgenus of the Wasps, properly so 

 called, or 



Vespa, Poustes, Lai. 

 These Insects unite in numerous societies, composed of malei-, 

 females, and neuter'^. The two last detach particles of old wood or 

 bark with their mandibles, moisten and reduce them into a pultaceous 

 mass resembling that of paper or pasteboard, and construct combs 

 or nests with it, that are usually horizontal, and suspended above 

 by one or more pedicles ; on the inferior side is a range of vertical 

 cells in the form of hexagonal and truncated pyramids. These cells 

 are appropriated exclusively to the use of the larvee and nymphs— a 

 cell to each. The number of combs that compose this nest varies. 

 It is sometimes exposed, and at others surrounded by an envelope, 



* See Lat., Gener. Crust, et Insect., IV, pp. 135, 136; several Vespae of Fa- 

 bricius. 



t Lat., Ibid. In Eumenks, the clypeus is longitudinal, and prolonged into a 

 point anteriorly ; the united mandibles form a long, narrow, and pointed rostrum ; 

 they are proportionally shorter, and merely form an open angle in Zethus; here also 

 the clypeus is as broad as it is long, or broader, and has no anterior prolongation. The 

 second cubital cell is perfectly triangular. The maxillary palpi do not extend beyond 

 the extremity of the jaws. They are longer in Disccelius, which resembles Zethus in 

 the form of the mandibles andclj'peus. Wcshould observe, that most of the Insects 

 placed by Fabricius in this last genus are Polistes, in which, however, the abdom«n 

 differs from that of the ordinary species, and approximates to that of an Eumenes. 



X Lat., Ibid. 



§ Lat., Ibid. 



