Insects, 161 



Descriptions qf the British Wasps. By Frederick Smith, Esq., 

 Curator to the Entomological Society. 



The object of my present communication is to describe the different 

 species of wasps (of the restricted genus Vespa) which have occurred 

 in Great Britain ; and more particularly to point out the true Vespa 

 vulgaris of Linnaeus. As my opinions on this point differ from those 

 of many distinguished entomologists, besides being at variance with 

 established notions of specific distinctions, I deem it necessary to enter 

 into a detailed account of that species, and to give several figures 

 of it, in order more clearly to explain its variations. 



Huber observes there are two sorts of females in wasp communities. 

 There are certainly two sizes of what I have regarded as neuters, the 

 larger being much less numerous than the smaller ; in a nest which I 

 took the proportion was as one to thirty. Except in size they were 

 similar : the larger ones may probably be the small females stated by 

 Huber to lay only male eggs. 



It is stated in Kirby and Spence's ' Introduction to Entomology,' 

 that wasps have sentinels at the entrance of their nests ; and that if 

 these be destroyed, the communication is cut off between the wasps 

 within and those without the nest. I was curious to try the experi- 

 ment; but in several instances I could not detect any wasp apparently 

 on duty : however, in Plumstead wood, last summer, T saw a wasp at 

 the entrance of a nest, sometimes walking an inch or two from the 

 hole, and then going a little further in. This I thought very like the 

 actions of a sentinel ; so I got a piece of paling, and watching my op- 

 portunity I suddenly pushed it in an oblique direction into the ground, 

 so as to cut off effectually all communication. The sentinel flew at me, 

 but I captured him in a little time, as he was most perseveringly charg- 

 ing and recharging upon me, and seemed determined either to con- 

 quer or die ; the latter was his fate. When I returned to the nest, a 

 number of wasps had collected, and they were in no way inclined to 

 let me approach unheeded, but flew about me, to all appearance intent 

 on revenge. Perhaps the supposed sentinel, in his wide circumvola- 

 tions while attacking me, had communicated the alarm. 



Sp. 1. Vespa CRx\bro, Linn. 



It will be unnecessary for me to describe the hornet, that insect 

 being so well known, and no difference of opinion existing as to its 

 varieties constituting but a single species. I have not seen it in the 

 north of England, nor heard of its occurring there; in the west, how- 



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