170 
bears a median, rounded tubercle just before the ocelli, and the 
abdomen and legs are not armed. 
When the adult hatches it remains head down in the pupal 
position for some hours. [Evidently it fears no effusion of blood 
to the head and eventually crawls down the tube to freedom. 
I found more of these nests higher up in the forest, hanging 
under the shelter of palms, leaves, overhanging boulders, under 
partly-fallen trees, and in the archways formed by the prop-lke 
roots of huge forest trees; they were practically always in posi- 
tions sheltered from rains. But in one or two instances, so 
close were these frail non-waterproof nests to a waterfall, that 

Fig. 98. Fig. 99. Fig. 100. 
Fig. 98. Above, vertical section through base of cell of S. depressigaster, 
showing egg with food-mass placed upon it. Below, ecll base showing 
young larva encircling food-mass. Enlarged. 
Fig. 99. Half-grown larva of S. depressigaster. Enlarged. 
Fig. 100. Pupa of S. depressigaster, as it lies in the cell, X 5/3. 
the spray frequently struck them and forced the proprietors to 
edge around to the lee side of their dwellings, to which they 
habitu uly cling and where no doubt they rest at night; and after 
a heavy downpour the swollen stream so augmented the cataract, 
that the nests, soaked with water, broke up and were abandoned. 
But once did I find one of these nests near habitations; it was 
suspended under the apex of the roof of a rustic sort of open 
seedling house, itself in a well-wooded country. Like the smaller 
solitary species whose nest is illustrated in Fig. 103, these insects 
will often suddenly buzz their wings when on the nest and thus 
cause the featherweight structure to sway as in a light breeze. 
The nests are sombre earth color, variegated with “lighter or 
darker bands, and are not at all conspicuous. The wasps are 
often seen in small companies hanging to some slender rootiet. 
extended observations on this species will doubtless reveal 
very interesting habits; the wasps are very homelike and will 
repair their nests time and again—even after Vespa deusta has 
destroyed or deformed every cell it contains—and bravely start 
life’s gamble anew. 
