small black spot, the connection of which with the blackness of the base 

 is interrupted in the second segment : on the under side of the abdomen 

 the base of the segments is black, and the intermediate ones have each a 

 pair of rather crescent-shaped black spots not connected with the black 

 ness of the base. 



[Kirby states that the specimen above described differs somewhat from 

 the European wasps of this species, but he considers it to be merely a 

 variety of the latter. Later authors state that both V. -nilgaris and V. 

 g^rmanica, European species, are found on this side of the Atlantic] 



365. Vespa borealis Kirby. — Length of body 74 lines. A single 

 specimen taken with the last. 



[265.] Body black, downy, especially the head and trunk, with gray 

 hairs. Nose trapezoidal, yellow with a black floriform discoidal spot ; 

 anterior margin with three sinuses taken out : vertex with a trapezoidal 

 yellow spot just above the base of the antennas ; antennae black, luteous 

 underneath ; external orbit of the eyes and mandibles yellow ; lateral 

 margin of the collar, a triangular small spot under each wing, two narrow 

 transverse and internally acute spots on the scutellum, and two similar 

 ones below them on the metathorax, all white ; tegulae w^liite with a 

 brownish s|K)t in the disk ; legs yellow ; thighs black at the base ; wings 

 testaceous ; abdomen heart-shaped, with the bases of the segments where 

 uncovered, and two dots on each except the first, black ; the middle part 

 of the black basal bands projects into a triangular tooth ; the under side 

 is nearly similar, but the projections form a longitudinal stripe. 



366. Vespa margixata Kirby. — Plate vi., fig. 2. — Length of body 

 "jYz lines. Taken in the route from New York, and again in Lat. 65". 



%. — Body black, punctured, downy from a mixture of black and gray 

 hairs. Mandibles white with a black margin ; palpi reddish ; nose white 

 with a flask-shaped longitudinal black spot in the disk ; just above the 

 antennae is a bilobed white spot, between which and the eye is a white 

 line, and another external one above it ; arftennae short, not much 

 exceeding the head, black with the scape white underneath ; in one of the 

 specimens there is a reddish spot underneath on the four or five last 

 joints, which is not discernible in the others ; the external margin of the 

 collar, before each wing, and a small triangular spot on each side of the 

 scutellum, are white; wings embrowned with darker nervures, but the 



