326 



HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



FIG. 111. Yellow-jacket. 

 (X3.) 



worker honey bee, and black 

 with yellow stripes around the 

 body. Each worker and queen 

 is provided with a very efficient 

 sting which they can use most 

 effectively when they consider 

 there is need for it. They are 

 busy creatures and when treated 

 with ordinary discretion will go 

 peacefully about their business. 

 The species of yellow-jacket 

 under consideration is a Euro- 

 pean species and in its native home sometimes builds its 

 nest in trees, but here in America it builds its nest in 

 hollow logs and stumps, under boards, and occasionally 

 underground. These underground nests are often very 

 large, as big as a half-bushel basket, and communicate 

 with the open air by a single 

 (rarely two) small openings. 

 The nest is enveloped with 

 a covering of papery ma- 

 terial and the number of 

 inmates may reach the 

 amazing total of fifteen to 

 twenty thousand, the num- 

 ber varying with the season. 

 The bald-faced hornet 

 (Fig. 112) is a much larger 

 wasp, black marked with 

 white, especially on the 



face, hence its common FlG . 112 ._ Ba id-faced hornet. 

 name. This wasp builds (x2|.) 



