8 
the tree wasp has more black upon the body gene- 
rally, than the other species. 
6. The tree wasp is rather larger. 
7. The organs of generation in the males of the 
two species, as shewn by the plates in Reaumur and 
De Geer, vary considerably. 
8. The abdomen in each species contains the same 
number of rings, viz. six in the females and neuters, 
and seven in the males. 
As the object of this paper is not to give a de- 
tailed account of the economy of wasps, which would 
occupy a volume, but merely to mention some state- 
ments of various authors respecting them, which 
have not been borne out by my own observations, 
I shall only give a slight outline of their habits, in 
order to make the details more intelligible. The 
interior arrangement of the nests of both species is so 
nearly alike, that one description will serve for both. 
It can be hardly necessary to state that societies 
of wasps, as of bees, consist of three different classes 
of inhabitants, viz. males, females, and neuters. The 
females, which are much larger than the others, are 
familiarly known to every body as the large breed- 
ing wasps which appear in the spring. The neu- 
ters, or imperfectly developed females, are the ordi- 
nary wasps which infest our houses and gardens, 
and form the bulk of the colony. ‘The males, not 
differing much from these in size or general ap- 
pearance, are yet easily recognised by the practised 
observer, from the greater length of their antenne, 
and their longer and more slender form: besides 
which, as is the case with the males in all this class 
of insects, they have no sting. 
Early in the spring the female wasps, which alone 
