170 MESSES. C. HOKNE AND F. SMITH ON HTMENOPTEKA 



sting him. The pain of the sting resembles burning; and in one case of my taking a 

 nest, when I was severely stung, the pain lasted for four days. I mention this as it is 

 curious to observe the diflferent degree of virulence of the poison of the various small 

 msppi'^ oT '("Tim clSiSS 



The cells extend in masses of great size, and are placed in the midst and amongst the 

 twigs of thick garden bushes. I also believe, from what I have seen, that the comb of 

 one season is not used in another; perhaps it becomes weather-worn and incapable of 

 proper repair. This insect also has, like the /. variegata, a retractile body; and 

 its cells are beautifully regular hexagons. It is much molested by a small class of 

 moths (Tineid^), and also by an Anthrax, In fact the nest lies very open to the 

 attack of parasites, who, as a rule, care nothing for the sharpest stings. The grubs, 

 which I found in abundance and in all stages of growth in October, have rather a 

 singular shape, being almost conical. The perfect insects are much plagued with a 

 species of Stylops, the females of which lie under the scales of the abdomen. I found 

 one piece of comb nearly one foot across each way; but generally the combs are only 

 one-half or two-thirds of this size. 



PoLiSTES HEBR^us, Fabr. 



This insect, which is generally known to residents in India as the ^'Yellow Wasp," 

 is a great nuisance. It is very partial to verandas, and builds its cells on a roof-beam. 

 More often, however, it selects trees near houses, and, if not disturbed, builds enormous 

 nests, continuing year after year in the same place, deserting great parts of its comb 

 as they become useless from age, and building others near to the old ones. The 

 food of this insect is of a very general character, and it dearly loves sugar in any 

 form. 



It has an unpleasant habit of either flying at you if irritated, stinging you as it 

 touches, and then flying on without stopping, or falling from above upon you and 

 performing the same trick. I am told by a friend that the English Hornet does the 

 same. In the case of the Indian Polistes^ however, the sting is not very severe. 



They sometimes select the oddest places for their combs. On one occasion I was 

 moving some tin boxes, when about thirty flew out of one of them at me ; and I found 

 their comb in a corner, inside. They had obtained access through the open window of 

 the store-room. I have often observed the commencement of a comb. 



In the month of November the females newly hatched sit out on sunny days on the 

 tops of Venetian doors and similar situations and buzz for males. Nor do they wait 

 long; for at this season the whole veranda swarms with these Polistes, and I have had 

 thousands of them killed in a morning. Having met with a suitable partner, the ova 

 appear to be impregnated; and not long after, the queen, fully prepared, sets to and 

 buUds a single cell on a stout foot-stalk, lays an egg in it, and proceeds to build three 

 or four more around it, in each of which she lays an egg. 



