Proceedings of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 1020-1921. 



11th January, 19?U. 

 Professor Gregg Wilson, President of the Society, in tlie Chair. 



Public Lecture in Assembly Minor Hall, 



entitled : 



THE WONDERLAND OF THE WASPS. 



By John J. Ward, F.E.S. 



{Abstract.) 



In introducing his subject the lecturer referred to certain 

 wasp mimics, insects masquerading as wasps, and deriving pro- 

 tection from their black and yellow covering and wasp-like 

 appearance ; and in this connection showed slides of the wasp 

 beetle, hover fly, and the lunar hornet moth. The life story of 

 the latter insect was told in detail and illustrated by means of 

 wonderful photographs, and incidentally introduced a parasitic 

 enemy — the long-tailed ichneumon wasp. 



The wasps were divided into two great classes, namely, the 

 Solitary and the Social species. Then came astonishing 

 revelations of the life histories of various solitary species, almost 

 unbelievable wonders observed by the lecturer were demonstrated 

 on the screen by means of his instructive photographs. The life 

 story of the Mud Wasp {Odynerus antilope), Mr, Ward stated, 

 had taken him seven years to work out in detail. The little 

 wasp appeared for only about three weeks during the month of 

 June, building its nesting cells on a flat brick wall, preferably 

 that of a newly-built house. The cells were constructed with a 

 kind of cement, which the wasp manufactured by scraping a 

 piece of sandstone with its mandibles and then mixing the sand 

 grains so obtained with saliva. When a cell was made the wasp 

 then stored it with live caterpillars, which it captured, and, with 



