156 HYMENOPTEEA. 



Tawny Wasp, common in sandy districts; and Vespa crahro, 

 the Hornet. Eight species are found altogether. The sting is 

 in the form of a double-edged saw, with poison-bags at its base. 

 Unlike the hive-bee, the wasp can sting any number of times. 



Solitary Wasps are known as Sand Wasps or Odyneri , the 

 fifteen British species are all more or less beneficial. They 

 are smaller than those of the genus Vespa, and never live in 

 colonies. They form burrows in sandy banks, with curved and 

 tubular entrances, composed of pieces of mud. Like the wasps, 

 they are all of some shade of yellow and black in colour. They 

 provision their nests with small larvae in a paralysed condition. 



Remedies for Wasps. — The ground nests of V. vulgaris, V. rufa, 

 &c., are best destroyed by burning sulphur in them of a night 

 and blocking the nest up with clay ; then digging them out next 

 day, and burning the whole brood. Cyanide of potassium is 

 often employed, but with no better results than sulphur, unless 

 the nest is dug out afterwards in the same way. The hanging 

 nests of V. sylvestris are more troublesome : by far the best plan 

 is to shoot them down, late in the evening. Ifeedless to say, 

 all the spring queens should be killed whenever one can do so. 



Bees (Anthophila). 



The last division of the Aculeate Hymenoptera are the An- 

 thophila or Bees, including the genera Halidus, Andrena, Bom- 

 bus, and Apis. These have an elongated mouth, the maxillee and 

 lower lip forming the so-called " tongue " of the bee. The fore 

 wings are never folded together longitudinally when at rest. 

 Most are colonial in habits, and in some there is a distinct caste 

 of workers, as in the hive-bee. The nests are made up of cells, 

 and are very variable. The genus Andrena make their nests in 

 sandy banks generally, some of wood, others of sand ; and 

 the ApidcB of wax. In the colonial forms only one queen in- 

 habits each nest. Some cells are set aside for the brood, others 

 for storing up pollen and honey. The genus Nomada or the. 



