348 INSECTS AT HOMK 



CHAPTER IV. 

 WASPS AND SOLITARY BEES. 



We now come to the great group called Diploptera, or ' folded 

 ■wings,' because in repose the second pair of wings are folded 

 longitudinally. In these insects there are Solitary and Social 

 species, and in all the former there are only two sexes, namely, 

 the perfect male and female, while in the latter there is a third, 

 or imperfect or neuter sex, called the Worker. These are, in 

 fact, undeveloped females. All the females, whether perfect 

 or not, are armed with a venomous sting, the construction 

 of which will be described when we come to treat of the 

 Hive Bee. We know these insects popularly by the name of 

 Wasps, and while some species are familiarly known to all 

 who take the least interest in the works of Nature, others, 

 more especially the solitary species, are utterly unknown except 

 to naturalists. 



We will begin with the Solitary Wasps, or Eumenidse, 

 which may be distinguished by the claws of the tarsi, which 

 are double in the Solitary and single in the Social Wasps. On 

 Plate XI. Fig. 1, may be seen two examples of these remarkable 

 insects, one shown in flight, and the other, just below it, 

 engaged in forming its curious nest. The latter specimen, as 

 well as Fig. 3, serves to show the longitudinal folding of the 

 lower pair of wings. The name of tliis insect is Eumenes 

 coarctata, the only British example of its genus. 



In this genus the head is triangular, the wings large, with 

 one marginal and three submarginal cells, and the abdomen is 

 somewhat pear-shaped, the first segment being drawn out so as 

 to form a decided footstalk. Its colour is black, variegated 

 with yellow. The front edge of the prothorax and the tibiae 

 and tarsi are yellow. The segments of the abdomen are edged 

 with yellow, and there are ten spots of the same colour on the 



