Dec.,i9i6 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 103 



the basal black band is much broader and its angular projection extends 

 backwards as to be connected with the lateral spots. Sixth tergite yellow 

 with a broad brown apex and a median longitudinal black band. Sternites 

 two arid three with a terminal black fascia which is much broadened on 

 the sides and encloses there a transverse black spot; the fourth and 

 fifth tergites show also an indication of a similar pattern. The colora- 

 tion of the abdomen is not mixed with brownish, except on the ventral 

 face, where there is a slight brownish tinge on the boundaries between the 

 black and yellow markings. 



Length : total, i6 mm. ; from front of head to posterior margin of second 

 segment', 12 mm. 



2 $ from Fort Lee, N. J., July 16, 1916. — Professor J. S. Hine has 

 shown me a third $ specimen which was caught by him the same day on 

 Staten Island, N. Y., on flowers of sumach (Rhus typhina L.) 



Except for the difference in the color of the antennal scape 

 noted above, these three specimens agree in every respect. I was 

 also able to compare them with a Vespa austriaca 5 from Switzer- 

 land, for which I am indebted to the generosity of the well-known 

 French hymenopterologist, Mr. J. de Gaulle. In sculpture, struc- 

 ture and pubescence I can discover no difference between the 

 European and the American specimens. The coloration also is 

 very similar in the European 5^ the black spots on the clypeus 

 are very small, the underside of the antennal scape has a broader 

 yellow stripe, the postscutellum bears two minute lateral yellow 

 spots and the ventral face of the abdomen is richer yellow. How- 

 ever, coloration is a very secondary matter in the wasps, and it is 

 well known that English specimens of F. austriaca are paler in 

 color than those of Continental Europe. 



Vespa austriaca Panzer is not closely related to any other 

 American species, its nearest relative being the European Vespa 

 rufa L. Of the latter species I have never seen a North Amer- 

 ican specimen in any of the collections I was able to look over. 

 R. du Buysson (1905), however, describes of this species a var. 

 intermedia from Hudson Bay, and a var. americana from Quebec, 

 I am inclined to believe that these American specimens belong to 

 Vespa consobrina Sauss., which, although very different in col- 

 oration, is very probably the American race or subspecies of 

 Vespa rufa L. 



Vespa austriaca comes in the group of species with short oculo- 



