P43 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
Our Common Wasps. By Henry Reeks, Esq., F.L.S. 
THERE are four species of wasps, besides the hornet 
(V. Crabro), which I presume are very common, and gene- 
rally distributed throughout the British Isles, namely, Vespa 
rufa, V. germanica, V. sylvestris, and V. vulgaris. Of these 
V. sylvestris is the connecting link between the ground- 
building and the tree-building wasps, as it does not confine 
itself particularly to either situation, although it is more 
frequently found building under the thatch, or tiles of walls, 
outhouses, &c. 
I quite agree with you in advising your readers (Entom. 
vii. 211), where practicable, to take the whole nest, and 
examine and pin out at least a good series of the inmates: 
this is certainly advisable, and absolutely necessary with new 
or little-known species; but with the above-mentioned 
common species there cannot be much confusion,—unless 
books tend to make such confusion,—for they are so very 
distinctively marked, that when once known they can . 
scarcely ever be mistaken again. I have no work on wasps, 
nor any specimens by me for scientific comparison, but I 
trust the following general remarks will enable most of your 
readers to recognize at a glance the common forms mentioned 
above :— 
V. rufa has a black anchor-shaped mark down the middle 
of the face, without a dot on either side of the lower end of 
the mark. The abdomen is banded, as usual, black and 
yellow, with a dash of rufous on the Ist and 2nd segments, 
but most plainly on the 2nd. The black bands are very 
narrow, with a tongue-like mark of the same colour beneath 
and joined to each band, and with a conspicuous black dot 
on each side of the tongue-like projection. This species is 
the smallest of the four here mentioned, and builds its nest 
under ground, using sound wood for its construction, and — 
working until very late in the autumn, even to the beginning 
of November. 
The species most resembling V. rufa is V. germanica, but 
this is easily distinguished by its never having a perfectly- 
formed anchor-shaped mark on the face, and also by always 
lacking the rufous markings on the Ist and 2nd segments of 
the abdomen. The face of V. germanica is most commonly 
