THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XXXVL] FEBRUARY. 1903. [No. 477. 



ATTITUDE OF HYBERNATING WASP. 

 By F. W. Fkohawk, M.B.O.U., F.E.S. 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 



The remarkable attitude assumed by wasps during hyber- 

 nation appears to have escaped the notice of entomologists, at 

 least I am unable to find any reference to it, excepting the 

 following short note in Westwood's 'Introduction,' published 

 sixty-three years ago. In vol. ii. p. 247, allusion is made to the 

 susceptibility of wasps to the cold, where it states : " I have 

 observed a wasp on a frosty morning in October hanging 

 suspended by its jaws to a curtain, with its wings closely folded 

 up between its legs and upon its breast " ; excepting the last 

 part of the observation, which should read abdomen instead of 

 breast, it fairly describes a hybernating wasp. 



On Dec. 12th last I had occasion to take down a picture from 

 the wall of my bedroom, and noticed on the back, which was of 

 cardboard, a wasp which at first appeared to be wingless, and 



BNTOM. — FEBRUARY, 1903. D 



