7262 Insects, 



chamber became tenanted, nor were the insects again to be seen near 

 the spot, which was in the immediate vicinity of the place in which 

 hundreds of young females had the previous autumn been reared. 



Early in July I was rather astonished at seeing a young working 

 wasp busily employed in gathering materials for building. This was 

 at Cokethorpe Park, a favourite locality for various species of Vespidae. 

 From this circumstance I knew that one female had succeeded in 

 founding a colony. It was not long before I met with other workers, 

 at distances so far apart as to make it apparent there must be more 

 than one or two nests in the neighbourhood. All doubt upon the 

 point was removed on obtaining specimens, which proved to be of four 

 different species, viz. : Vespa germanica, V. vulgaris, V. rufa and V. 

 sylvestris. It was not until the end of the month that I succeeded in 

 discovering a nest which turned out to be one of V. germanica. I did 

 not immediately take possession of this nest but made diligent search 

 for one of V. vulgaris, my object being to obtain, if possible, one con- 

 taining larvae of Ripiphorus, a parasite I have never yet found, 

 except in nests of that species. In my search 1 met with one of V. 

 rufa, which I immediately dug out, taking it away, but purposely leaving 

 a number of the workers behind, carefully replacing the sods I had 

 removed over the cavity and making an entrance thereto from without. 

 In the course of a few days I found, as I expected would be the case, 

 that a fresh nest had been begun by the workers I had left behind, 

 and that the work was being briskly proceeded with. 



About the same time a nest, or rather the situation of one, was 

 pointed out to me by the gardener at Cokethorpe Park. It was in a 

 wall in the kitchen garden some ten or twelve feet from the ground. 

 The stones forming the inner portion of the wall were lying hollow, so 

 as to allow of the construction of a nest of small size, such as is that 

 of V. sylvestris, of which species this was. Probably the weather 

 influenced the parent wasp in her choice of a situation and caused her 

 to fix on this uovel one. With reference to this species I may remark 

 that, with the exception of the one mentioned above, all the nests I 

 hBve met with have been constructed under ground. Mr. Smith, how- 

 ever, considers it to be rather a tree -building species than an under- 

 ground one. In lightness of appearance and elegance of shape the 

 nests of this species far surpass those of any other of the British 

 Vespidae. 



A specimen of V. Crabro was next observed. This insect I suc- 

 ceeded in tracing to the nest, which was situated in the head of a 

 pollard ash that had been cut down and was lying in the wood-yard 



