Wxt Mumming ^iul 



NOTICE. 



ITH the present Part, we close the Third Volume of the 

 Humming Bird. In \'olume IV. will be concluded the 

 Genera of Humming Birds, and the First Volume of Travels of a 

 Naturalist. 



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The Redaction. 



NOTES ON WASPS. 



BY A. BOUCARD. 



The Wasp (Vespa Britannica) is an hymenopterous 

 insect belonging to the family Vespidae, or family of Wasps 

 and Hornets. The principal characters of these insects are 

 taken from the structure of the wings. These, four in 

 number, as in all the species of Hymenoptera, are folded 

 throughout their entire length when the insect is at rest ; the 

 fore-wings have one marginal and three sub-marginal cells, 

 with an incomplete terminal sub-marginal cell, and in all the 

 species the neuration is the same. Some wasps are solitary 

 in their manner of life, and these have been separated from 

 the social species and formed into a distinct familv EuMENlDAE. 



The social wasps have their bodies usually black with 

 yellow markings ; they have strong and dentated mandibles, 

 and the females and neuters have a long, powerful, and 

 venomous sting. Their legs are unprovided with apparatus 

 for collecting pollen. They live in societies composed of 

 D 



