SECRETARY'S REPORT. 175 



bees ; the first can hardly be considered as of particuhir benefit 

 to the farmer ; the bees are siifiiciently well known as I'urnish- 

 ing not only honey and wax for the use of man, but are of the 

 greatest importance in the fertilization of many plants, by con- 

 veying the pollen from flower to flower. It is with regard to 

 the much abused wasps that something need be said, as although 

 they may refresh themselves with an overripe grape, or choice 

 apricot on occasion, their chief food in the larva state consists 

 of other insects ; many species living entirely upon flies, a large 

 majority upon the caterpillars of various moths, and others still 

 upon spiders. These are collected by the parent and entombed 

 in the nests which they construct for the reception of their 

 eggs, being previously wounded or otherwise disabled from 

 injuring the egg or tender larva of the wasp, but retaining suf- 

 ficient vitality to preserve them fresh for the food of the young, 

 which begin to devour this provision as soon as excluded. 



Pelopasus coBrHleus of Linnaeus, the blue mud-wasp, is one 

 of the most common species in this country, and as its name 

 implies, of a bright steel-blue varied with violet or purple 

 reflections upon the wings, which are quite opaque, and in the 

 females expand about 1.25 ; the antennas are dull black, with a 

 greyish pile, and the head and thorax rather thickly clothed 

 with short black hair ; the abdomen is attached to the thorax 

 by a peduncle nearly as long as itself. The males are about 

 .60 in length, and the females .75. 



Pulistes fuscdta of Fabricius, or the common brown wasp, 

 is of a dark brown color, lined and spotted with reddish, or 

 tawny yellow ; the wings are smoky, hyaline with a fulvous 

 stigma, and the tarsi are pale yellow ; tlie peduncle connecting 

 the thorax and abdomen is much shorter than in the preceding 

 species, and the head ajid body are clothed with a close silky 

 pile, giving it a lustre like satin. It is about the same size as 

 the last. 



Our largest paper-making wasp, 

 the Vi'spa macnhtta of Linnaeus, or 

 spotted wasp, (figure 49,) is com- 

 monly known in this country by 

 the name of " white-faced hornet." 

 In this genus the abdomen is sessile 

 or fitting closely and squarely to 

 the hinder part of the thorax, when Fig. 49. 



