166 Insects. 



figs, a, c and/, taken from the same nest, which was found under the 

 roof of a house : and in another instance the varieties 5,/ and c, from 

 a second nest dug out of a bank. In the month of November I dug 

 up a nest, and in it found thirteen females in a half-torpid state, col- 

 lected together at the bottom ; the individuals c and d were of this 

 number. 



It has been stated that there is a difference in the materials of which 

 the nests are composed ; that some nests are smaller than others, and 

 of a more delicate texture. As regards size, I am aware that nests 

 are not always found of the same dimensions, even in the autumn ; 

 neither are all the societies equally numerous in individuals. The 

 differences in the texture of the nests arise, no doubt, partly from the 

 nature of the wood used in their construction, and partly from the si- 

 tuation in which they are found. For although the ordinary situation 

 for the nest of V. vulgaris is in the ground, yet it sometimes builds in 

 outhouses, &c. ; and I once found a nest in an old wooden pump, the 

 entrance being at the hole in which the spout had been fixed : and 

 Mr. Westwood has specimens from a nest constructed on the rafters 

 of a house. With regard to the material used by wasps in the con- 

 struction of their nests, that is, whether collected from decayed wood 

 or sound timber, authors have given different accounts. During the 

 last summer my attention was particularly attracted by a number of 

 wasps, which were engaged in scraping their material from the wood- 

 en laths in front of an arbour, in a garden at Plumstead, in Kent : this 

 wood was quite sound and very hard, as I found on cutting off a por- 

 tion which had been shaved by the wasps. Again, in Plumstead 

 wood, I saw great numbers similarly employed on some sound, hard 

 oak paling. Still, in both instances, the wood had been exposed to 

 weather, and it is only the surface of sound wood which they strip, for 

 they may be observed to shift their position frequently, as if seeking 

 the softer parts. But I have also seen wasps collecting materials from 

 wood in so decayed a state as to crumble in the hand ; and it will be 

 found, on examining their nests, that the outer envelopes are frequent- 

 ly of a very different texture from the material used in the construc- 

 tion of the combs. I have a specimen, in which the outer leaf-like 

 case is so fragile as to crumble at the least touch, and still the combs 

 are of the usual firmness. The envelopes appear to have a considera- 

 ble portion of decayed wood in them, mixed with layers of a different 

 colour and texture : this nest was found in a barn. I think it will be 

 found that if wasps meet with suitable material near at hand, most of 

 the communitv in the same nest will resort to it. I observed an in- 



