165 
blue-bottle flies which were feeding at a bunch of the decayed 
fruit. 
A very familiar sight to the casual observer is the big yellow- 
winged Vespa deusta, Lepeletier (Fig. 95) as it flies about the 
more rural dwellings, trees, banks, etc., searching for something it 
may destroy. The queen is nearly 32 mm. long, black, with 
orange wings; the worker is about 25 mm. long. This wasp is 
a slow flyer, and though com- 
mon, only one or two at a time 
are to be seen. Both castes are 
often met with. She is a most 
destructive creature and a per- 
fect bane to some of the Steno- 
gaster and Icaria, whose nests 
she destroys with impunity. 
Being of great size and power- 
ful build, she probably meets 
with little opposition among the 
majority of other wasps. A 
note of January 14, 1917, reads: 
‘A.M. “I “saw. ene. of these 
wasps alight on a leaf of a Buri 
palm (Corypha elata Roxb.) 
said leaf being curled up into a 
cone within which a good-sized 
paper nest of a small pale yel- 
lowish Jcaria was secured for 
its ventral length along and to 
eachside’ of a rib: of the leat. 
The nest was only a few inches 
long, and the more or less hort- 
zontal comb was covered witha 
low paper roof. The entrance 
Fig. 95. Queen of Vespa deusta, X 2. to the interior of the nest faced 
- outwardly. Without hesitation 
the burly wasp squeezed through the door, the owners standing 
aside and looking on. Vespa stayed inside for some minutes; in 
the meantime ten or fifteen /caria arrived from the field, but these 
as well patiently awaited at the door for the big predator to 
finish her pillage. I became impatient, and when | jarred the 
leaf the wasp finally backed out, carrying in her mandibles a 
white object, probably one or more /caria larvae, and flew away 
in a good straight line. Further shaking showed that the nest 
contained a number of /caria. The next day, as I passed by the 
nest, I noticed that there was a hole in the roof, probably the 
") 

