SOCIAL-WASPS. 81 



of the above statements is correct, as we have only 

 once seen a hornet procuring materials, at Compton- 

 Basset, in Wiltshire ; and in that case it gnawed the 

 inner bark of an elm which had been felled for seve- 

 ral months, and was, consequently, dry and tough. 

 Such materials as this would account for the common 

 yellowish-brown colour of a hornet's nest.* 



When hornets make choice of a tree for their do- 

 micile, they select one which is in a state of decay, 

 and already partly hollowed : but they possess the 

 means, in their sharp and strong mandibles, of ex- 

 tending the excavation to suit their purposes ; and 

 Reaumur frequently witnessed their operations in 

 mining into a decayed tree, and carrying off what 

 they had gnawed. He observed, also, that in such 

 cases they did not make, use of the large hole of the 

 tree for an entrance, but went to the trouble of dig- 

 ging a gallery, sufficient for the passage of the largest 

 hornet in the nest, through the hving and undecayed 

 portion of the tree. As this is perforated in a wind- 

 ing direction, it is no doubt intended for the purpose 

 of protecting the nest from the intrusion of depre- 

 dators, who could more easily effect an entrance if 

 there were not such a tortuous way to pass through. 



One of the most remarkable of our native social- 

 wasps is the Vespa britannicu, or tree-wasp, which is 

 not uncommon in the northern, but is seldom to be 

 met with in the southern parts of the island. Instead 

 of burrowing in the ground like the common wasp 

 (Vespa vulgaris), or in the hollows of trees like the 

 hornet (Vespa crabro), it boldly swings its nest from 

 the extremity of a branch, where it exhibits some 

 resemblance, in size and colour, to a Welsh wig, 

 hung out to dry. We have seen more than one of 

 these nests on the same tree, at Catrine, in Ayrshire, 



*J. R 



