I'l 



Proccediiujs of the Boyal Physical Society. 



keep out the rain. The combs are not, as in our wasps' 

 nests, suspended from the top and free all round. They are 

 horizontal and fixed to the walls of the nest, and the entrance 

 to the tiers is by a hole in the median line. The cells are 

 liexagonal, and open downward on the lower or slightly 

 convex side of the combs. The entrance to the nest is 

 funnel-shaped, and so is it, though the funnel is less pro- 

 nounced, in each layer of comb. The funnel is in the centre 

 of a smooth lozenge-shaped space free of cells. This space 

 gradually diminishes till it disappears in the topmost layer. 

 The greater part of the nest is, in shape, like an inverted 

 cone, on the upper part of which an inverted cup-like addi- 

 tion is placed, and by this it is suspended. 



In 1841 Mr Adam White described, in the " Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History," a new genus of honey-storing 

 wasp under the generic term Myrapctra — '' a fanciful word," 

 he tells us, " compounded of the names of two cities, one in 

 Asia Minor, the other in Arabia " — a good illustration of the 

 arbitrary if not mischievous ascription of meaningless terms 

 to indicate new genera. Mr AVhite describes the nest also 

 of one species under this genus, Myra'petra scutilaris. The 

 nest now on the table was given to me by Dr H. Gunning, 

 so well known by his recent munificent gifts in behalf of 

 Scottish science. Its height is 12J inches, breadth 9J inches, 

 circumference at bottom 33 inches, about the middle 32 

 inches, and near the top 17 J inches. Looked at below, the 

 base is horseshoe-shaped. There seems to be no doubt that 

 the nest is that of one member of the genus Myrapetra, but 

 it differs so much from the nest described by White as to 

 warrant its ascription to a different species. This will best 

 appear by setting the leading features of both in separate 

 columns : — 



Nest in British Museum. Nest in Neiv College. 



1. ]\Iaterial, white pasteboard-like. 1. Grey coloured, papery. 



2. Viewed sideways, oblong. 2. Circular, broad at base. 



3. From beneath, somewhat ovate. 3. Horseshoe-shaped. 



4. Covered with conical knobs of 4. Many conical knobs of same 

 various shapes. shnpe. 



5. Knobs in some instances % of 5. Knobs all shorter, 

 inch long. 



