1 16 BRITISH INSECTS 



small, black insects, striped and marked with yellow. 

 Fifteen of them belong to the genus Odynerus. They 

 make their nests in burrows, in plant stems, and in the 

 crevices of masonry ; while some of the species have 

 been known to build in door-locks, and in the holes of 

 cotton-reels, blind-tassels, etc. One individual actually 

 made her nest in the barrel of an old pistol that had 

 been left in an outhouse. It is often stated that these 

 insects use mud when constructing their cells ; but 

 some, at least, employ particles of dry soil, which they 

 cement together with their saliva. The sixteenth 

 species 1 has a remarkably long " waist." It builds its 

 globular nests on the twigs of low-growing plants, 

 usually choosing heather (Plate XI.). All our 

 Eunienincz provision their cells with tiny caterpillars, 

 which they paralyze by stinging, after the manner of 

 the digger-wasps. 



The social wasps of the sub-family Vespina have 

 two tibial spines on the middle leg, and their tarsal 

 claws are not toothed. There appear to be seven 

 British species, including the hornet, 2 although the 

 number is stated by some authors to be eight. A 

 hornet may be easily recognized by its size a small 

 worker hornet being larger than any queen wasp 

 and by its reddish-brown and yellow livery, all the 

 " wasps " being black and yellow, and very much alike 

 in appearance. The three commoner species usually 

 build under ground, while two others generally hang 

 their nests from the branches of a tree or shrub. A 

 sixth species, of which no workers are known, seems 

 not to build at all, but to breed in the nests of one of 

 the ground species. The hornet builds as a rule in 

 hollow trees, or in the roofs of outhouses, barns, etc., 

 1 Eumcnis coarctata. 2 Vespacrabro. 



