VESPARI^E. 147 



In Colletes the females, as Shuckard observes, resemble the 

 workers of the Honey-bee, while there is considerable disparity 

 between the sexes, the males being much smaller, the tongue 

 and maxillae very short; and the four-jointed labial palpi 

 much shorter than the paraglossae. There are three subcostal 

 cells, with the rudiments of a fourth. These bees form large colo- 

 nies, burrowing in the earth eight or ten inches deep, lining their 

 cells ' ' at the farther end with a very thin transparent mem- 

 branaceous coating, resembling goldbeaters' skin." They thus 

 furnish six or eight cartridge-like cells, covering each* with a 

 cap, "like the parchment on a drum-head." Smith, from whom 

 we have been quoting, states that Miltogramma punctata, which 

 is a Tachina-like fly, and the Cuckoo-bee, Epeolus variegatus, 

 have, in Europe, been reared from their cocoons. 



VESPARI^E Latreille, Wasps. In this family, which comprises 

 about 900 species, the body is more attenuated, more cylindri- 

 cal, with a harder and smoother tegument than in the Ap iarice . 

 In the species with densely populated colonies, such as Vespa, 

 and Polistes, there are workers which are often very numerous, 

 while in Eumenes and Odynerus, etc., there are only males and 

 females. The antennae are elbowed, the mandibles are large, 

 stout ; the maxillae and labium of varying length ; the maxil- 

 lary palpi are six-jointed ; while on the labial palpi, which are 

 four-jointed, there are well-developed paraglossae. The pro- 

 thorax is prolonged on each side to the insertion of the wings 

 which are long and narrow, and once folded longitudinally 

 when at rest ; the fore pair have two or three subcostal cells ; 

 the hind shanks and tibiae are smooth. The eggs, when first 

 laid, are globular, soon becoming oval. 



The larvae of this family are soft, fleshy, with larger heads in 

 proportion to the rest of the body, than in the Apiariw; 

 the antennal tubercle, or rudimentary antennae, are more dis- 

 tinct, and the mandibles are larger. The surface of the body 

 is smoother in Vespa and Polistes, but more tuberculated in the 

 solitary genera, Odynerus and allies, while the end of the body 

 is more acute. 



As in the Apiarice the higher genera are social, building 

 papery nests, while the lower are solitary and build cells of mud 

 or sand in protected places. 



