472 Prof. R. L. Edgeworth on Irish Vespidse. 



Vespa rufa. — At Edgeworthstown this is a very rare wasp. V. 

 rufa differs in every respect — in appearance, in size, in habits, 

 and in disposition — from V. vulgaris. What the humble-bee is 

 to the hive-bee, that the V. rufa is to the V. vulgaris. He is 

 essentially a stupid wasp. 1 believe that he is innocuous to 

 man, not stinging without great provocation, being seldom 

 found in the house, and not devouring fruit and groceries. 

 But the great difference, as far as I know, between the habits of 

 V. vulgaris and V. rufa is, that V. rufa makes paper like the 

 tree-wasps, and V. vulgaris does not. Moreover the nest of the 

 V. vulgaris is spherical, whereas that of the V. rufa is consider- 

 ably flattened at the poles. Again, the V. rufa differs essentially 

 from V. vulgaris in not being a burrowing wasp. Its nest is 

 generally situated quite superficially under the thick moss of 

 dry banks or in some cavity near the surface already excavated. 

 Occasionally V. rufa builds out of the ground, and I have once 

 or twice found its nest under a window-sill or in the decayed 

 wood-work round old outhouses. 



The interior of the nest is most remarkable ; for considerably 

 more than two-thirds of the cells are for queens and males. 

 Now this is a most curious fact. The consequence of this is, 

 that in the autumn the number of queens and males vastly ex- 

 ceeds that of the workers, and that the interior of the nest pre- 

 sents a very formidable but grand and imposing appearance 

 from the number of these huge insects everywhere moving about. 

 It is also worth remarking, that, though the females are so nu- 

 merous, this wasp does not seem to increase by any means 

 rapidly, as we should naturally have expected. 



There is still another most remarkable fact in the history of 

 this wasp yet to be mentioned ; and this is, that whereas the nest 

 of V. vulgaris \^ inhabited till late in November, that of V. rufa 

 is almost totally abandoned by the end of September by its 

 queens and all its inhabitants. 



V. rufa feeds on small aphides, on honey, which it sucks like 

 a bee from flowers, and on various vegetable products. I gave 

 sugar to some wasps of this species, and found that it quite 

 enervated them from active work, and they presented all the ap- 

 pearances of intoxication. V. rufa is a peculiarly delicate wasp, 

 and, if its nest is at all molested, has not the energy to repair the 

 injuries inflicted. The nest of V. rufa is composed of various 

 vegetable tissues. I exhibited at a meeting of the Microscopical 

 Club of Dublin a specimen of the paper of this wasp ; but no 

 definite conclusion was formed as to the component structures, 

 although it was suggested that the tissue resembled that of the 

 Urtica urens. 



Vespa Britannica (Common Tree-Wasp). — The Vespa Brit an- 



