VESPA. 



ment of the Upper Saone, fituated on a mountain, called 

 Mott de Vefoul : near it is a medicinal fpring ; 5^ pofts N. 

 of Befan^on. N. lat. 47° 38'. E. long. 6° 14'. 



VESPA, Waff, in Entomology, a genus of the Hymenop- 

 tera order of infeAs, the charafters of which are thefe : the 

 mouth horny ; the jaw compreffed, without probofcis ; the 

 palpi or feelers four, unequal, filiform ; the antennae fili- 

 form, the firft joint being longer and cylindric ; the eyes 

 lunated ; the body fmooth ; the fting concealed ; and the 

 upper wings plicated. This is a very extenfive genus, 

 comprehending, in Gmelin's Syftem of Linnaeus, 159 fpe- 

 cies ; but in the hiftory and arrangement of this fpecies there 

 remains much confufion. We may obferve in general, that 

 they are j^emarkable, like thofe of the apis, or bee, for the 

 dexterity with which they conftruft their nefts, which in 

 thofe of many fpecies is of confiderable fize. We fliall con- 

 fine ourfelves, in this article, to a defcription of two fpecies ; 

 •viz. the Vulgaris and Crabro. 



VuxGARis ; or Common Wafp. This has an interrupted 

 fmall line on both fides of the thorax ; a four-fpotted fcu- 

 tellum, and the incifions of the abdomen marked with black 

 fpots. It is fuggefted by Dr. Shaw, that the V. vulgaris of 

 Linnaeus, which he reprefents as building its neil under pro- 

 jefting roofs, may not be the fame with the common Englilh 

 wafp, fo well known to u8, which builds jts neft under ground ; 

 as under the furface of feme dry bank. M. Reaumur ( Hift. 

 Acad. Sc. Paris, 1 7 19), and Dr. Derham (Phil. Tranf. 

 N° 382. p. ^i- or Abr. vol. viii. p. 404.), agrees in diilin- 

 guifhing three iorts of wafps ; vi-z. the queens or females, 

 the males, and the common labouring wafps, called mules, 

 which, accorduig to Reaumur, are neither males nor fe- 

 males, and confequently barren. The queens, of which 

 there is a confiderable number, though fewer than the males, 

 and of courfe much fewer than the neutral or labouring 

 wafps, are much longer in the body, and larger than any 

 other wafp : they have a large heavy belly, corrcfponding 

 in fize to the prodigious quantity of eggs vi'ith which they 

 are charged. The males are lefs than the queens, but longer 

 and larger than the common wafps, which are the fmalleft 

 of the fpecies : they have no ftings, with which both the 

 queens and common wafps are furnifhed. There are in one 

 neft two or three hundred males, and as many females ; but 

 their number depends on the fize of the neft ; and Dr. Der- 

 ham obferved that the males were bred, or at leaft moftly 

 refided, in the two cells or partings, between the combs, 

 next to the uppermoft cell. The antenn:E or horns of the 

 male wafps are longer and larger than thofe of either of 

 th^ other forts ; but the chief difference, fays Dr. Der- 

 ham, confifts in their parts of generation, which are alto- 

 gether different from thofe of other wafps. 



The mules are the labourers belonging to the neft, and 

 are employed in procuring materials for the nefts, and in 

 conftrufting them, and alfo in fumiftiing the other wafps, 

 and the young, with provifions. 



M. Reaumur has obfeived, that when the females that 

 have furvived the winter begin, at the return of fpring, to 

 lay their eggs, they firft lay thofe which hatch mules, and 

 at this time they build cells of a fmaller fize to lodge the 

 eggs from which they are produced : they afterwards build 

 larger cells, and fill them with the largeft eggs, which 

 are thofe of the males and females. This writer fays, 

 that the copulation of the males and females is vifible, and 

 he has given a particular account of it ; obferving that it is 

 performed in Oftober, hke that of all other flies. 



At the beginning of winter the wafps deftroy all the eggs, 

 and all the young ones without exception ; all the mules and 

 males which have been employed in thi8 work, being unfur- 



nifhed with provifions, perifti ; and none furvive, except fome 

 few females, which, according to Reaumur, were fecundated 

 in Oftober, and raife a new colony in the beginning of 

 fpring. 



The wafps conftruft regular combs, and rear their young 

 in the cells of thefe combs, in the manner of bees : wliere- 

 ever there is a young worm in a cell, the old wafps frequently 

 thruft their heads into it, and caft up the food, being a coarfe 

 kind 6f honey, for the young one out of their mouths : 

 their cells are hexagonal ; and when they have a mind 

 to enlarge their habitations, and make more or bigger 

 combs in them, they are feen very bufily coming out of 

 the mouth of the hole, every one loaded ^v^th a parcel of 

 earth, till they have carried out as much as is neceflary for 

 the intended enlargement. 



They fupport their combs, one over another, by crofs- 

 pieces of about an inch long, fo that there is ample room for 

 the wafps to pafs in their feveral bufinefies. Thofe cells 

 which ftand in the centre of a comb are always perpendi- 

 cular ; the others all ftand more or lefs obhquely ; and in 

 the centre, the comb is fomewhat hollowed and depreffed on 

 the face, and convex on the back ; and in this part is in- 

 ferted the principal crofs-piece that fcrves for a fupport. 



A wafp's neft is commonly round, or oval, meafuring 

 about ten or twelve inches in diameter, and made of mate- 

 rials refembling the coarfer kinds of whitifh-brown paper. 

 Thefe materials confift of the fibres of various dry vegetable 

 fubftances, agglutinated by a tenacious fluid, difcharged 

 from the mouths of the infefts during their operations. The 

 common covering of it, which u formed of feveral leaves or 

 layers, with intermediate fpaces, is pierced by two holes at 

 a diftance from one another, one of which is ufed for the 

 entrance of the wafps, and the other only for their exit. The 

 fpace within this covering is cut by a number of horizontal 

 planes, with intervals between them of the fize of about 

 half an inch ; they are fufpended from one another by liga- 

 ments, and attached to the covering by their edges ; they 

 all have hexagonal cells in their lower furface. 



The eggs, larva;, or maggots of the wafp are of an ob- 

 long form, and referable thofe of a common fly, but they 

 are larger ; they are always fattened to the angles of a cell, 

 never to the fides of it. They are ufually placed fingle : it 

 is very rare to find two in one cell ; and, if they are laid fo, 

 It feems that only one fucceeds ; for there is never found 

 more than one worm in a cell. 



The heads of all the nymphs are turned toward the centre 

 of the comb, and their tails go obliquely downward toward 

 the bafe of the cell. They are continually feen opening 

 their mouths, and moving their forcipes, feeming ever hungry, 

 and impatiently waiting for food from their parents. The 

 cells are left open till the nymph is at its full growth ; then 

 the wafps cover it over with a thin lid, under which the 

 worm undergoes its transformation ; and as foon as it arrives 

 at the wafp ftate, it eats its way through this thin cover, and 

 comes to work with the reft. 



The wafps do not, hke bees, prepare and lay up a ftore 

 of honey for winter ufe, but the few which furvive the fea- 

 fon of their birth remain torpid during the colder months. 

 Wafps in general are both carnivorous and frugivorous. 



Crabro ; or Hornet. This has its thorax black on the 

 fore part, and unfpotted, having the incifures of the abdomen 

 marked with a double contiguous black fpot. This fpecies 

 is of a much more formidable nature than the common wafp, 

 and of confiderably larger fize : its colour is a tawny yel- 

 low, with ferruginous and black bars and variegations. The 

 neft of this fpecies is generally built in the cavity of fome 

 decayed tree, or immediately beneath its roots ; and not un- 



fre- 



