170 MESSRS. C. HORNE AND F. SMITH ON HYMENOPTERA 
sting him. The pain of the sting resembles burning; and in one case of my taking a 
nest, when I was severely stung, the pain lasted for four days. I mention this as it is 
curious to observe the different degree of virulence of the poison of the various small 
insects of this class. 
The cells extend in masses of great size, and are placed in the midst and amongst the 
twigs of thick garden bushes. I also believe, from what I have seen, that the comb of 
one season is not used in another; perhaps it becomes weather-worn and incapable of 
proper repair. ‘This insect also has, like the J. variegata, a retractile body; and 
its cells are beautifully regular hexagons. It is much molested by a small class of 
moths (Tineid), and also by an Anthrax. In fact the nest lies very open to the 
attack of parasites, who, as a rule, care nothing for the sharpest stings. The grubs, 
which I found in abundance and in all stages of growth in October, have rather a 
singular shape, being almost conical. The perfect insects are much plagued with a 
species of Stylops, the females of which lie under the scales of the abdomen. I found 
one piece of comb nearly one foot across each way; but generally the combs are only 
one-half or two-thirds of this size. 
PoLISTES HEBR&US, Fabr. 
This insect, which is generally known to residents in India as the ‘* Yellow Wasp,” 
is a great nuisance. It is very partial to verandas, and builds its cells on a roof-beam. 
More often, however, it selects trees near houses, and, if not disturbed, builds enormous 
nests, continuing year after year in the same place, deserting great parts of its comb 
as they become useless from age, and building others near to the old ones. The 
food of this insect is of a very general character, and it dearly loves sugar in any 
form. 
It has an unpleasant habit of either flying at you if irritated, stinging you as it 
touches, and then flying on without stopping, or falling from above upon you and 
performing the same trick. I am told by a friend that the English Hornet does the 
same. In the case of the Indian Polistes, however, the sting is not very severe. 
They sometimes select the oddest places for their combs. On one occasion I was 
moving some tin boxes, when about thirty flew out of one of them at me; and I found 
their comb in a corner, inside. They had obtained access through the open window of 
the store-room. I have often observed the commencement of a comb. 
In the month of November the females newly hatched sit out on sunny days on the 
tops of venetian doors and similar situations and buzz for males. Nor do they wait 
long; for at this season the whole veranda swarms with these Polistes, and I have had 
thousands of them killed ina morning. Having met with a suitable partner, the ova 
appear to be impregnated; and not long after, the queen, fully prepared, sets to and 
builds a single cell on a stout foot-stalk, lays an egg in it, and proceeds to build three 
or four more around it, in each of which she lays an egg. 
