HYMENOPTERA. 597 



Lave only two complete cubital cells ; the middle and tne fore margin of the clypeus is emarginate, 

 receiving the labrura in the emargination. The tribe is named after the typical genus, 



Masaris, Fabricius. 

 Masaris proper, has tlie antennae rather longer than the head and thorax, and thj abdomen long-. 

 Celonites, Latr., has the antennae scarcely longer than the head, and the abdomen scarcely longer than the 

 thorax. 



The second tribe of the Diploptera, that of the Vespari^, is composed of the genus 



Vespa, Linn., — 

 The antennse of which are distinctly 13-jointed in the males, 12-jointed in the females, and terminated 

 by an elongated mass, which is pointed and sometimes hooked at the tip (in the males) ; they are 

 always elbowed, at least in the females and neuters. The lower lip is sometimes divided into four 

 plumose filaments, and sometimes into three lobes, with four glandular points at the tip, the middle 

 lobe being notched at tlie tip. If we except a very few species, the upper wings have tiiree complete 

 cubital cells. The females and neuters are armed with a powerful sting. Many live in societies, 

 consisting of males, females, and neuters. 



The larvae are vermiform, without feet, and each is inclosed in a cell, where they feed either upon 

 the dead bodies of insects which the parent Wasp had deposited at the same time as the egg, or upon 

 the honey of flowers, the juice of fruits, or of animal matters, elaborated in the stomach of the females 

 or neuters, and which these individuals feed them with daily. M. Saint Hilaire discovered a species 

 in Brazil which makes an abundant provision of honey, which, like common honey, is under some 

 circumstances poisonous. {Mem. du Mus. Hist. Nat.) 



Ceramius, Latr., has the fore wings extended and flat, and only two cubital cells. [Exotic species, one of which, 

 C. lasitaniciis, appears to be allied to Masaris.] In all the rest the fore wings are doubled [longitudi nally when 

 at rest], and have three complete cubital cells. 



Some have the mandibles longer than broad, and beak-like ; the labium is narrow and elongate, with the clypeus 

 cordate or oval. 



These are solitary Wasps, each species consisting of males and females, which last lay up a store of provisions 

 for their young before they are born, and for the whole period of their larva state. Their nests are formed of 

 earth, sometimes concealed in holes in walls, in the earth, or old wood, and sometimes they are fixed upon planis, 

 the parents storing them with caterpillars or spiders, having previously wounded them with their stings. 



Synagris, Latr., has the labium divided into four long plumose filaments, without glandular points at the apex. 

 {S. cornuta, and other African species.] 



Eumenes, Latr. , has the labium divided into three pieces ; the middle one bifid, and all glandular at the tips. 



In some of these the abdomen is ovoid, or conic, and thick at the base, as in 



Pterochilus, Klug, having an elongated proboscis. (Pt. phalerata, a German species). 



Odynerus, Latr. (and RyggMum, Spin.), in which the lower parts of the mouth are short. The female of 

 V. muraria forms burrows in the sand several inches deep, at the mouth of which she constructs a curved earthy 

 tube ; she provisions her nest with six or eight green larvje without feet, and with them deposits an egg, and then 

 closes the mouth of the cell, and destroys the tube. [There are numerous British species.] 



In the others the abdomen has the basal joint narrow, long, and pear-shaped, and the second bell-shaped. 



Eumenes proper (E. coarctata. Fab.), the typical species, constructs its spherical nest upon the stems of plants, 

 especially heath, in which it deposits an egg, together with a supply of honey, according to Geotfroy. 



In Eumenes the mandibles form a long and pointed beak ; in Zethus they are shorter, and the maxillary palpi 

 not longer than the maxillK. In Disc<elius, which resembles Zethus in the mandibles, the maxillary palpi 

 are longer. 



The remaining species of Wasps have the mandibles scarcely longer than broad, with a broad and oblique trun- 

 cation at the tip ; the labrum is short, and the clypeus nearly square, lliey form the genus 



Vespa proper (and Polistes, Latr.), and are united in societies, often very numerous, composed of males, 

 females, and neuters. The two latter kinds of individuals form, with bits of old wood or bark, and which they 

 detach with their jaws and reduce to a pulp-like paper, horizontal layers of hexagonal cells, like honey-comb, 

 suspended from above by several short pillars and opening downwards, and which are solely used to lodge, in an 

 isolated manner, the larvae and pupa;. The number of these layers in a Wasp's nest varies. The nest is some- 

 times open and sometimes enveloped in a covering, with apertures leading to the cells. Its figure is varied in the 

 different species. 



The females commence the nest [in the spring], and deposit eggs, which produce neuters, or workers, which 

 assist in enlarging the nest, and tending the subsequent broods, until the beginning of autumn. The society con- 

 sists only of these two kinds of individuals ; at that period, however, the young males and females appear, all the 

 larvae and pupae which do not undergo their final change before November are destroyed by the neuters, which 

 likewise perish, as well as the males, with the cold ; a few females alone remain, to become the foundresses of fresh 

 colonies in the following spring. Wasps feed upon other insects, meat, fruit, and feed their young with the juices 



