THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 71 
tumbler, which was removed during the night; and in the 
morning the Polistes proceeded in search of her companions, 
bringing back with her two others to assist in feeding the 
larve. Some means of intimating to her associates the 
object of her apparition, and of urging them to trust to her 
lead, must doubtless have been made available on this occa- 
sion; but that she should have been enabled to define the 
particular window, among so many, where the nest remained 
concealed from view, and prevail upon the others to accom- 
pany her on such a strange and unaccountable expedition to 
a remote and unnatural locality for the discovery of the lost 
nest, could only have been accomplished by the exercise of 
a considerable amount of intelligence and communicative 
instinct. That these Polistes belonged to the original brood 
could scarcely be doubtful, as all others would return to their 
respective domiciles; but, as supererogatory evidence thereof, 
I added some strangers to the party from other nests taken 
elsewhere, and these intruders were at once attacked and 
driven away. This nest (now exhibibited with some of its 
occupants 2n sztw) is remarkable from having been constructed, 
to some extent, of the macerated paper of play-bills of different 
colours posted in the vicinity, as shown in the tinted layers 
of the respective cells) On a former occasion Sir John 
Lubbock pointed out that the sounds produced by the wing- 
vibrations in Hymenoptera vary according to circumstances ; 
that “a tired insect produces a somewhat different note from 
one that is fresh, on account of the vibrations being slower ;” 
that this “ change of tone is evidently under the command of 
the will, and thus offers another point of similarity to a true 
voice ;” that “a bee in the pursuit of honey hums contentedly 
on A, but if it is excited or angry it produces a very different 
note ;” and that thus the sounds of insects “serve, like any 
true language, to express the feelings.” He also remarks 
that “as even we, far removed as we are in organization, 
habits, and sentiments, from a fly or a bee, can yet feel the 
difference between a contented hum and an angry buzz, it is 
highly improbable that their power of expressing their feelings 
should stop here;” and that “one can scarcely doubt that 
they have thus the power of conveying other sentiments and 
ideas to one another.” In the case of these Polistes (without 
diving too deeply into their mysterious endowments in this 
