182 Selby on Wasps. 



sary to enter into any detailed account of what must be familiar 

 to most of our Members. I may, however, remark, that the 

 diminutive nests seen in outhouses, and other situations, varying 

 in size from the circumference of a shilling to that of an egg, 

 and supposed to be the work of a particular species designated 

 the Campanular Wasp, are only, in fact, the commencement of 

 the nests of the species which thus suspend them, and which are 

 left in this early and unfinished state either by the desertion or 

 death of the parent queen. 



In the composition of the paper-like substance which forms 

 the exterior of the nests of the three species, I find but little 

 difference ; all of them forming it of particles of wood procured 

 from gates, gate-posts, rails, &c, which have been exposed for 

 some time to the action of the weather, and that is worked up 

 into a paste with their saliva. There is, however, a considerable 

 difference in the mode of applying this ligneous paper. By the 

 Tree Wasp it is beaten and worked out in continuous tile-like 

 sheets (see fig. 14) which overlap each other and encircle the 

 whole circumference of the nest ; by the V. vulgaris the sheets 

 are formed of a round shape, and are made to cover the exterior 

 in the manner of a pan-tiled house ; in all, however, a beautiful 

 provision to exclude rain and moisture from the interior of the 

 nest is exhibited. 



The drenching rains of the autumn and mid-winter of 1852, 

 and the long and severe snow and frost storm we experienced 

 during last February and the greater part of March, seem to 

 have been" fatal to dormant wasps, as well as other insects. Very 

 few queens were observed or destroyed at the period they issue 

 from their retreats ; and as a convincing proof of the rarity of 

 the different species at Twizell, I may mention that fruit of all 

 kinds, a favourite food, has this season remained unbroken and 

 untouched by wasps. In fact, at Twizell, contrary to what 

 usually happens, I have not seen a single hanging nest in the 

 woods, and have only met with one weak swarm of the V. vul- 

 garis. 



The distinctive specific characters of the three species appear 

 to be as follows : — 



Vespa vulgaris. Canthus, or that part of the head forming 

 the emargination of the eyes, entirely yellow. Antenna? black. 

 Tegulse yellow. Scutellum, — the queen with four yellow spots ; 

 the workers frequently with six. The colour of the abdomen 

 is also of a brighter yellow, and without the reddish-brown upon 

 the first two segments possessed by most specimens of the other 

 species. Nests in the ground. 



Vespa rufa. Antennas black. Canthus, or emargination of 

 the eye, black, with a short and narrow yellow streak on the 



