396 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY 



has, however, been caused am 



Fig. 304. — Nest of a foreign Wasp, 

 Polistes. (Natural size.) 



ing their nests from 

 the boughs of trees 

 (Fig. 302). 



Vespa crabro is the 

 dreaded hornet, which 

 constructs a fragile nest 

 usually in a hollow tree 

 or under a thatched 

 roof. Fig. 304 shows 

 the exposed comb made 

 by social wasps of the 

 genus Polistes, com- 

 mon in some other 

 countries, but not in 

 Britain. 



Family 3. Solitary 

 True Wasps {Eume- 

 nidae). 



There are a num- 

 ber of wasps which 

 lead solitary lives, and 

 the ways of these are 

 curious, and are de- 

 lightfully described by 

 Gr. and E. Peckham in 

 their book. Wasps, Social 



ongst wasps by playing to them 

 on a comb covered with paper! 

 Perhaps it is the similarity 

 of the noise produced to their 

 own buzzing that excites 

 them. The possession by 

 wasps of the senses of smell 

 and taste seems undoubted. 



There are several other 

 common species of Vespa 

 which are very similar in 

 their habits to Vespa vulgaris, 

 some forming similar nests 

 underground, some suspend- 



FiQ. 305.— A Solitary Wasp 

 (Eumenes coarctata). 



^ , A twig of heather bearing three of the wasps' nests, 

 c ; J, the wasp (nat. size) ; B, one nest cut open 

 to expose the larva within. 



