clxxvi On the Specific Differences 



by the differences in the form of the sexual organs, as shown in the 

 figures of those parts of the species. 



Vespa vulgaris. 



Vespa vulgaris, Linn. Faun. Suec. 1670, and Cab. Mus. Linn. Soc. 



Scop. Ins. Cam, 824. Be Geer, Ins. ii. 801, t. 27. Fab. Syst. 



Ent. 364, 4 ; Id. Ent. Syst. ii. 256, 10. Schrank, Ins. Anstr. 



787. Panz. Faun. Germ. 49, 16. Rossi, Faun. Etrus.n. 83, 



861. Don. Brit. Ins. vii. t. 266. Latr. Hist. Nat. xiii. 351. 



St. Farg. Hist. Nat. Ins. i. 516, 14. Smith, Zool. i. 162, f. d. 



9,5. $, 9, 6. 

 Vespa Saxonica, Fab. Ent. Syst. ii. 256, 12, $. Panz. Faun. 



Germ. 49, 21, $. 



Female. — Length 7 — 8 lines. Head and thorax black; the clypeus 

 yellow, and having a black stripe down its centre, terminating in a 

 transverse spot, rounded at its inferior margin ; a stripe along the pos- 

 terior margin of the eyes ; another occupying the notch of the eyes, 

 and attenuated towards the clypeus ; a crown-shaped spot above the 

 clypeus, and the mandibles, yellow ; the latter rufo-piceous at their 

 apex. A spot beneath the wings, and a stripe from their base to the 

 margin of the prothorax, an elongate-ovate spot on each side of the 

 scutellum at its basal margin, and a lunate one on each side of the 

 post-scutellum, yellow. The apex of the femora, the tibiae and tarsi 

 yellow ; the latter ferruginous towards their apex ; the tibiae have a 

 black stain behind. Abdomen yellow, its base black ; the first seg- 

 ment has a black fascia on its basal margin, pointed in the centre ; a 

 similar stripe occupies the basal margins of all the other segments, 

 more or less hidden by their being more retracted or exerted ; the se- 

 cond, third, fourth and fifth segments have a black dot on each side. 



Var. 1. — The black dots on the second segment united to the trans- 

 verse band. 



Var. 2. — The yellow stripe at the posterior margin of the eyes in- 

 terrupted or subinterrupted. 



Worker. — Length 4 J— 6 lines. Head and thorax as in the female, 

 with the addition of a large yellow spot on each side of the metatho- 

 rax. Abdomen yellow ; a triangular black spot in the centre of the 

 basal margin of the first segment, and a smaller one on each side, at 

 its lateral margins; the second segment has a black fascia at its basal 

 margin, produced in the middle into an angulated patch; the rest of 

 the segments are similarly marked, but the fascia is more or less hid- 



