104 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society Vol. XI 



malar spaces, where the eyes reach very nearly to the base of the 

 mandibles. This group includes, in North America: V. Caro- 

 lina L., V. sulphurea L., V. vidua Sauss., V. consobrina Sauss., V. 

 occidentalis Cress., V. pennsylvanica Sauss.* and also the common 

 yellow- jacket, Vespa communis Sauss.f All these, however, dif- 

 fer from V. austriaca inter alia by the absence of long hairs on 

 the upper side of the tibisej and very often also by the shape 

 of the clypeus, which in most of the species has broadly rounded 

 lateral angles. 



V. austriaca Pz, is a very scarce wasp in Europe. It was re- 

 corded from Switzerland, the Vosges, Southern Germany, West- 

 ern Austria, near St. Petersburg, Southern Sweden, the Pyrenees, 

 Upper Italy, and the British Islands, and shows a marked pref- 

 erence for mountainous regions where it goes as high as i,8oo 

 meters. J. Perez records a J* from Shang Hai. 



The life-history and even the identity of this wasp was long a 

 puzzle; early writers thought it to be only a color-variation of 

 Vespa rufa L, Giraud (1862) was the first to point out the struc- 

 tural differences between the two forms, and since that time V. 

 austriaca has generally been accepted as distinct. Curiously 

 enough, R. du Buysson, in his recent Monograph of the genus 

 Vespa (1905), returns to the older opinion and gives austriaca 

 merely as a variety of rufa, although he indicates the character- 

 istics of both forms. 



Owing to some very remarkable biological facts, the question 

 of the relationship of F. austriaca to V. rufa (or to other species 

 of wasps) goes far beyond the usual interest of discussions as to 

 species and varieties. Though both J* and $ of F. austriaca are 



* I came recently to the conclusion that Vespa occidentalis Cresson and 

 V. pennsylvanica Sauss. are two very distinct species. R. du Buysson 

 (1905) brings them together as synonyms. 



t This species is commonly identified as V. vulgaris L. or V. germanica 

 F. in American collections. I have seen no American specimens which 

 correspond exactly to these European species. Moreover, V. communis 

 Sauss. is apparently the American race or sub-species of V. vulgaris L. 

 In a similar manner, V. pennsylvanica Sauss. (but not V. occidentalis 

 Cresson) may be a subspecies of V. germanica F. 



X These long hairs on the tibiae exist in all the American species with 

 long oculo-malar spaces, such as V. maculata L., V. diabolica Sauss., etc. 



