— 
472 Prof. R. L. Edgeworth on Irish Vespide. 
Vespa rufa.—At Edgeworthstown this is a very rare wasp. V. — 
rufa differs in every respect—in appearance, in size, im habits, — 
and in disposition—from V. vulgaris. What the humble-bee is — 
to the hive-bee, that the V. rufa is to the V. vulgaris. He is — 
essentially a stupid wasp. I believe that he is imnocuous to — 
man, not stinging without great provocation, being seldom — 
found in the house, and not devouring fruit and groceries. — 
But the great difference, as far as I know, between the habits of 
V. vulgaris and V. rufa is, that V. rufa makes paper like the 
tree-wasps, and V. vulgaris does not. Moreover the nest of the 
V. vulgaris is spherical, whereas that of the V. rufa is consider- 
ably flattened at the poles. Again, the V. rufa differs essentially — 
from V. vulgaris in not being a burrowing wasp. Its nest is — 
generally situated quite superficially under the thick moss of . 
dry banks or in some cavity near the surface already excavated. 
Occasionally V. rufa builds out of the ground, and I have once — 
or twice found its nest under a window-sill or in the decayed — 
wood-work round old outhouses. 
The interior of the nest is most remarkable ; for considerably 
more than two-thirds of the cells are for queens and males. 
Now this is a most curious fact. The consequence of this is, — 
that in the autumn the number of queens and males vastly ex- 
ceeds that of the workers, and that the interior of the nest pre- 
sents a very formidable but grand and imposing appearance ~ 
from the number of these huge insects everywhere moving about. — 
It is also worth remarking, that, though the females are so nu- 
merous, this wasp does not seem to increase by any means 
rapidly, as we should naturally have expected. 
There is still another most remarkable fact in the history of — 
this wasp yet to be mentioned ; and this is, that whereas the nest — 
of V. vulgaris is inhabited till late in November, that of V. rufa 
is almost totally abandoned by the end of September by its 
queens and all its inhabitants. 
V. rufa feeds on small aphides, on honey, which it sucks like 
a bee from flowers, and on various vegetable products. I gave ~ 
sugar to some wasps of this species, and found that it quite 
enervated them from active work, and they presented all the ap- — 
pearances of intoxication. V. rufa is a peculiarly delicate wasp, — 
and, if its nest is at all molested, has not the energy to repair the © 
injuries inflicted. The nest of V. rufa is composed of various — 
vegetable tissues. I exhibited at a meeting of the Microscopical 
Club of Dublin a specimen of the paper of this wasp; but no — 
definite conclusion was formed as to the component structures, — 
although it was suggested that the tissue resembled that of the 
Urtica urens. a 
Vespa Britannica (Common Tree-Wasp).—The Vespa Britan- — 
