HYMENOPTERA. 253 
mortar in walls, some inches in depth, atthe orifice of which 
she forms an exterior tube, at first straight and then recurved, 
composed of an earthy paste, arranged in thick, contorted 
threads. In the cavity of the interior cell she places from eight 
to twelve little green larvee of a similar age, resembling cater- 
pillars, but without feet, arranging them in circular layers. 
Having laid an egg in it, she closes the orifice and destroys the 
scaffolding without *. 
In the others, the first ring of the abdomen is narrow, elongated, 
and pyriform, and the second campanulate, as in 
EuMENES, proper, 
To which we may re-unite the Zethi} of Fabricius, and the Dis- 
celist of Latrielle. 
F. coarctata, Fab.; Panz., Faun. Insect. Germ., LXIII, 12, 
the male. Five lines in length; black, with yellow spots; pos- 
terior margin of the abdominal annuli of the same colour ; first 
ring of the abdomen elongated and pyriform, with two yellow 
dots ; an oblique band of yellow on each side of the second, which 
is the largest of all, and campanulate. 
The female constructs a spherical nest of very fine earth on 
the stems of plants, which, according to Geoffroy, she fills with 
honey, and then deposits an egg §. 
Sometimes the mandibles are hardly longer than they are wide, and 
are broadly and obliquely truncated at the extremity; the ligula is 
short or but slightly elongated, and the clypeus nearly square. 
These species constitute the subgenus of the Wasps, properly so 
called, or 
Vespa, Ponisres, Lat. 
These Insects unite in numerous societies, composed of mases, 
females, and neuters. The two last detach particles of old wood or 
bark with their mandibles, moisten and reduce them intoa pultaceous 
mass resembling that of paper or pasteboard, and construct combs 
or nests with it, that are usually horizontal, and suspended above 
by one or more pedicles; on the inferior side is a range of vertical 
cells in the form of hexagonal and truncated pyramids. These cells 
are appropriated exclusively to the use of the Jarvee and nymphs—a 
cell to each. The number of combs that compose this nest varies. 
It is sometimes exposed, and at others surrounded by an envelope, 
* See Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., IV, pp. 135, 136; several Vespe of Fa- 
bricius. 
t+ Lat., Ibid. In Eumenes, the clypeus is longitudinal, and prolonged into a 
point anteriorly ; the united mandibles form a long, narrow, and pointed rostrum ; 
they are proportionally shorter, and merely form an open angle in ZeTHUS; here also 
the clypeus is as broad as itis long, or broader, and has no anterior prolongation. The 
second cubital cell is perfectly triangular. The maxillary palpi do not extend beyond 
the extremity of the jaws. They are longer in Drsca@urus, which resembles Zethus in 
the form of the mandibles andclypeus. Weshould observe, that most of the Insects 
placed by Fabricius in this last genus are Polistes, in which, however, the abdomen 
differs from that of the ordinary species, and approximates to that of an Eumenes, 
t{ Lat., Ibid. 
§ Lat., Ibid, 
