THE SOCIAL WASPS 



OF these we have only seven different kinds, 

 and with the exception of the hornet they are 

 all very much alike. One often hears people 

 say that they have seen such a large wasp that 

 they think it must have been a hornet, but no 

 one who has ever seen a hornet could mistake 

 a wasp for one. A hornet is red-brown with 

 yellow markings (pi. B, 13), a wasp is black and 

 yellow, and altogether a less formidable-looking 

 creature (pi. B, 14). Even a queen wasp is not 

 so large as a small worker hornet. The hornet 

 nests in hollow trees, our three commoner wasps 

 nest, as a rule, in the ground, but occasionally in 

 outhouses, under roofs, etc. One of the others as a 

 rule makes its nest in shrubs, but occasionally 

 in the ground, another always nests in a bush or 

 shrub, preferring a gooseberry or currant bush, 

 and the only remaining one is a cuckoo of one 

 of the ground species. The gooseberry-bush 



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