CLASSIFICATION OF THE SPECIES. AQ 
In the worker the abdominal marks are less dis- 
tinct than in the queen, and smaller in proportion to 
the size of the insect. The central button on the 
second ring is narrowed down to a simple streak 
with a red shading round its pomt. The markings 
of the male, as in V. arborea, nearly resemble those 
of the perfect female. 
It would be scarcely worth while to lengthen this 
work in, to me at least, its most tedious part by going 
over this ground again, and reproducing the distinc- 
tive character of the several species in the form of a 
tabular analysis. Useful as such an arrangement is 
when the species are numerous, it is scarcely required 
when there are no more than six. And it would 
probably need nearly as much pains to master such 
an arrangement as to construct one for oneself. I 
would, therefore, only observe that the distinction of 
spots or figured markings on the clypeus, and of the 
different forms of the markings on the first abdominal 
ring may readily be tabulated so as to show the 
several species. But the same pains spent on the 
comparison of one or two specimens with each other, 
or with accurate drawings, would be a much more 
useful exercise than the construction of an analytical 
table ; and would help more towards a solution of 
real difficulties when they do arise. 
Regarding the subject now from a somewhat 
different point of view. Except in the different styles 
of architecture displayed in the construction of their 
nests, which will be more conveniently examined in 
another place, there is very little in the habits of the 
smaller species of wasps to distinguish them from one 
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