Social- Wasps. 



105 



White makes the following interesting observations : 

 t; Azara, in the account of his residence in various parts 

 of South America, mentions the fact of several ivasps of these 

 countries collecting honey,, The Baron Walchenaer, who 

 edited the French translation of this work, published in 

 1809, thought that the Spanish traveller, who was unskilled 

 in entomology, had made some mistake with regard to the 

 insects, and regarded the so-called icasps as belonging to 



Nest of Myrapetra. 



some bee of the genus of which Apis amalfhea is the type 

 (Melipona). Latreille (who afterwards corrected his mistake) 

 also believed that they mast be referred to the genera 

 Nelipona or Trigona insects which in South America take 

 the place of our honey-bee. These authors were afterwards 

 clearly convinced of the correctness of Azara's observations, 

 by the circumstance of M. Auguste de St. Hilaire finding 

 near the river Uruguay an oval grey-coloured nest of a 



