TREE-WASP. 259 



" Vespa rufa appears to be nearly, if not quite, as 

 common here as V. vulgaris. I have found large 

 nests of each within a few feet of each other, and 

 each kind retaining throughout its structure its 

 characteristic peculiarities ; that of V. vulgaris being 

 wholly composed of materials prepared from sound 

 fibre, and that of V. rufa manufactured of much more 

 tender material, like that of the hornet (V. crabro), 

 and which is believed to be from rotten wood : 

 though I think it may be worthy of closer inquiry 

 whether it be not really obtained from the bark of 

 trees. I possess an example of V. vulgaris having 

 prepared a portion of the outer case of its nest 

 from a piece of blue paper. The paper had been 

 masticated and worked up exactly as the fibre, but 

 has retained its colour. There is a marked differ- 

 ence between the appearance of the larvae of the 

 V. vulgaris and the V. rufa. The latter are (propor- 

 tionably with their imago) larger, plumper, and 

 whiter. It is sometimes difficult, if not impossible, 

 to distinguish V. rufa by the anchor-shaped mark 

 on the face, which is sometimes nearly obliterated." 



TREE-WASP.* 



ON felling a fir-tree, last autumn (1845), in one 

 of the plantations at Bottisham Hall, a nest of the 

 tree-wasp was found suspended from one of the 

 twigs, about halfway from the ground. The lower- 

 most portion, containing the entrance to the nest, 



*. Vespa holsatica, Linn. ? or V. britannica, Leach ? 



