THE SOLITARY WASPS 



THE ordinary wasps are acquaintances of every 

 one , but the solitary or keyhole wasps are not so well 

 known, although they are far from uncommon. 

 They are little narrow black insects striped across 

 the body with yellow, belonging to the genus 

 Qdynerus (pi. A, 9), and might hardly be recog- 

 nized as belonging to the same family as the 

 true or social wasps. Still they have con- 

 siderable powers of stinging, and fold their 

 wings lengthwise when at rest like their larger 

 relatives. I dare say some people may have 

 noticed that a wasp's wing sometimes assumes 

 a narrow straight form, quite unlike what it is 

 when expanded. This is due to the wasp 

 being able to fold its wing lengthwise like a fan. 

 The wasp tribe are, so far as I know, the only 

 stinging Hymenoptera which have this power. 

 They make their nests of mud, etc., in crevices 

 of walls, in banks, in plant stems, and often 



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