366 THE COMMON WASP. 



a kind very inferior to that collected by the bees. 

 The chrysalis is without motion, and has the rudi- 

 ments of wings. 



A distinguishing popular character of this tribe 

 is their having smooth bodies, apparently without 

 hairs, and their upper wings, when at rest, folded 

 through their whole length. At the base of each 

 of these there is a scaly process, that performs the 

 office or a spring, in preventing them from rising too 

 high ; a caution of some importance to these carni- 

 vorous insects, which pursue their prey on full 

 stretch of wing. 



The mouth is hornv, and furnished with a com- 

 pressive jaw, and four unequal thread-shaped feel- 

 ers. The antenna: are also filiform, the first joint 

 longer than the rest, and cylindrical. The sting is 

 pungent, and concealed n ithin the abdomen. 



THE COMMON WASP *. 



The Common Wasp always forms its nest under 

 the surface of the earth, in a dry soil, and not un- 

 frequently occupies with it a forsaken dwelling of 

 the mole. The hole that leads to it is about an 

 inch in diameter, from half a foot to two feet deep, 

 and generally in a zigzag direction. 



When exposed to the view, the whole nest ap- 

 pears to be of a roundish form, and is usually twelve 

 or fourteen inches in diameter. It is strongly for- 

 tified all round with walls, in layers, formed of a 



* Vespa vulgaris. Linn % 



