154 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



trees at night, for the purpose of attracting moths, numbers of 

 these wasps settled on the sweet bait, and not only were more 

 numerous than the lepidoptera, but actually resented any at- 

 tempts at dislodgment. 



The nest of this insect is always pensile, and is hung from 

 the branches of a tree or shrub, the fir and gooseberry being 

 the favourites. A pretty specimen in my own collection was 

 taken from a gooseberry-tree in a garden, and another similar 

 nest was found at no great distance. One of these nests I 

 presented to the British Museum, and the other is now before 

 me. It is very small, only having one ' terrace,' in which are 

 thirteen cells, arranged in five rows, four being in the central 

 row, and the rest graduating regularly. It is almost as large as 

 a well-sized turnip radish, and something of the same shape, 

 supposing the radish to be suspended by the root, and to be 

 cut off just below the leaves. The outer envelope is composed 

 of three layers overlapping each other, which are very fragile, 

 considering the work they have to perform. 



The wasp itself is prettily marked, and although it is variable 

 in colouring, can be recognised by the black anchor-shaped 

 mark on the clypeus, and the squared black spot on the seg- 

 ments of the abdomen. 



Another species of British Tree Wasp is the Campanular 

 Wasp {Vespa sylvestris), a species which has received a multi- 

 tude of scientific names, but which is not variable in colour as 

 that which has just been mentioned. Though it has a wider 

 distribution than the Norwegian Wasp, it is scarcely so plentiful 

 an insect, and is remarkable for an occasional habit of making 

 a subterranean nest like that of the common wasp. The 

 Northern Wasp (Vespa horealis or arbo?'ea), is another of the 

 pensile wasps, and is mostly found in the North of England and 

 Scotland. Its nest is built in fir-trees. I may perhaps mention 

 that the tree wasps may always be distinguished from their sub- 

 terranean brethren by the colour of the antennae, workers and 

 females having the scape black in the ground wasps, and those 

 which build in trees having it yellow in both sexes. 



