Insects, 171 



Neuter, (V. borealis ?). Head black ; scape of antennae beneath, a 

 spot above the clypeus, a streak close to the inner, and another behind 

 the eyes towards their upper margin, yellow; the clypeus yellow, with 

 a black streak down the centre having an anchor-shaped termination ; 

 the mandibles yellow, their inner margin rufescent. The thorax as in 

 V. borealis, with the addition of a narrow yellow streak below the two 

 spots on the scutellum. The abdomen has a narrow black band at 

 the base of all the segments, slightly dentate in the centre, the second 

 broadest, a distinct separated black dot on each side of the remainder, 

 except the apical one, which has a black line down the centre. 



The nests of the tree-wasps are of a firmer texture than those of 

 the ground-wasps, especially the combs : I have a portion of a nest of 

 V. britannica which is particularly so : thus they are adapted to with- 

 stand the wind and rain to which they are, of necessity, exposed. I 

 possess nests of two of the tree-wasps — V. britannica and V. holsati- 

 ca ; the former is about the size of a small orange, and the latter is 

 only one inch in diameter, containing six cells ; the foundress wasp 

 was taken with the nest. The nest of V. britannica contains one layer 

 of cells, thirty in number; nineteen contained pupae when taken: this 

 agrees with the description of a nest given by Kirby and Spence, and 

 which was, without doubt, the nest of a young community. The out- 

 er leaves or envelopes in these small nests are capable of being opened 

 like the leaves of a half-blown rose ; thus, when additional layers of 

 combs are formed, they would be expanded, and would form the co- 

 vering of the lower portion of the nest. I suspect that all the nests 

 recorded as having been found of this small size, were found early in 

 the summer, or, if later, that some accident had happened to the foun- 

 dress ; for the nests would not contain more than about two hundred 

 cells, and it must be remembered that the cells differ in size, accord- 

 ing to the sexes they are intended to contain: and until I see cells of 

 females and males in these small nests, I shall be of opinion that they 

 are only early stages of larger nests, and that we have no perfect soci- 

 ety of social wasp in this country, the nest of which is never larger 

 than an orange. J. Hogg, Esq., of Stockton-on-Tees, in a communi- 

 cation to the Entomological Society, mentions having found one of 

 these small nests. He also states that he has taken one late in the 

 season ; but I still consider that the circumstance must be attributed 

 to one of the causes stated above. All the females taken with these 

 small nests which I have seen, were either V. britannica or V. holsatica. 



Frederick Smith. 



