Nature and Habits of the common Wasp. 625 



exists throughout the year. There seems a mystery about the 

 impregnation of the queen wasps, like that of the queen bees ; but 

 the former must meet with the males before they disperse from 

 the nest. I have doubts about what operates on the insects to 

 cause their destruction ; it cannot be altogether owing to the 

 cold, as generally supposed, for sometimes wasps' nests are 

 found tenantless before the cold sets in ; for instance, this season 

 I cut one from a branch on the 25th of August ; at that time it 

 was hot indeed. By the by, the nest belonged to a rare kind of 

 wasp in this part of the country, though common in the north. 

 The texture of the nest is firmer and darker than that of the 

 common wasp, and very like the nest of a larger wasp, though less 

 common than the ground one, which builds in the ground also^ 

 whose nest is formed of ligneous fibres from wood not so rotten 

 as that which the common wasp uses, whose nest is very brittle, 

 at least the covering. In some situations the more varied 

 materials that wasps scrape with their mandibles will, of course, 

 alter the colour and texture of their nests. Still, different kinds 

 of wasps have their favourite materials. This I know by having 

 different kinds at work close together. Their nests varied in 

 Colour like those just hinted at. In the darker one there ap- 

 peared as if cow-dung were in the composition. But with regard 

 to the wasp that builds on a branch, if the reader knows its habits 

 perhaps he will notice it. Mudie seems to have mistaken this 

 wasp for the common one, says but little about it, and observes 

 that " idle boys plug up the entrance to the nests with clay, 

 and then set them adrift down a cascade." May not the habits 

 of this wasp be more fitted for a northern climate ? If so, that 

 may account for the insects leaving the nest so soon. Though 

 the other kind of wasps do not leave them until about the first 

 or middle of October, yet they get careless about their nests 

 after the drones and queens come forth, which shows they have 

 fulfilled the grand object of their being, that is, reared others to 

 increase their species in the manner before stated. In a former 

 paper I noticed the necessity of encouragement being given to 

 prevent such increase. It is useless for me to mention the vari- 

 ous ways to accomplish this, for they are well known to those 

 concerned about wasps. I think some, with me, will doubt 

 Sir Joseph Banks's statement, though it seems to have the sanction 

 of Mr. Knight: " If you can once seize and destroy the sentinels 

 at a wasps' nest, the remainder will not attack you." Mr. Knight, 

 however, truly observes : " If one escapes from within, it comes 

 with a very different temper." 



I conclude with observing that the old saying, " A plum year 

 will be a wasp one," has been fulfilled this last summer, for 

 wasps have been numerous indeed. 

 Cossey Gardens, Oct. 5. 1842. 



3d Ser. — 1842. XII. s s 



