"WASP NESTS — FORAGING ANTS. 383 



ever, appear that, at an early period in the season, workers from 

 the former nest had attached themselves to the latter, their num- 

 bers increasing as the season advanced. Judging from the ap- 

 pearance of the nest, and from the amount of work done by each 

 species, it was easy to see that, at the end of August, when I dug- 

 it out, the number of individuals of each species was almost equal. 

 There is no possibility of mistaking the work of one species for 

 that of the other, and the distinction is apparent at a glance. 



"Apart from the interest attached to nests of this description, 

 no examples of which had been, as far as I am aware, obtained by 

 any naturalist, their beauty of coloring is so remarkable as to ren- 

 der them objects of general admiration. If, too, as I apprehend 

 must have been the case, the workers belonging to the colony of 

 Y. vulgaris mistook their neighbors' house for their own, the en- 

 trances being so near together, it is rather extraordinary that 

 those belonging to the other species should not have made a sim- 

 ilar mistake. They appeared, however, not to have done so, or 

 if they did, the mistake must have been rectified as often as it 

 occurred, for no work of theirs was to be found in the nest of V. 

 vulgaris." 



Before closing the history of the wasps, I may mention that the 

 two species, Vespa germanica and Yespa vulgaris, are so similar to 

 each other in shape and color that an unpracticed eye can not 

 readily discern the distinction between them. Specimens of both 

 these wasps are now before me, and when placed side by side the 

 difference is clearly evident. The yellow color predominates in 

 the former insect, and the dark bands of the abdomen are much 

 narrower. In the female Yespa germanica there are three black 

 spots on the basal margin of the first segment of the abdomen. 



In Mr. Bates's valuable work on the natural history of the 

 Amazons, there is an interesting account of the proceedings of 

 certain ants belonging to the genus Eciton, and which are popu- 

 larly massed together under the name of Foraging Ants. These 

 insects have often been confounded with the Saiiba or parasol ant, 

 which has already been described, although they belong to differ- 

 ent groups and have different habits. The native name for them 

 is Tauoca. There are many species belonging to this genus, and 

 I shall therefore restrict myself to those which seem to have the 

 most interesting habits, giving at the same time a general sketch 

 of their character. I regret that, as in so many other cases, th£ 



