8658 



Insects, 



days afterwards they were observed to be busily at work, when some 

 boys amused themselves by turning up the sods and laying the nest 

 bare : in this situation it remained two days and nights, exposed during 

 a great part of the time to a drenching rain. On finding out what had 

 occurred I replaced the sods, when the work again went on, but on 

 visiting the spot on the 27th, I found that a mole had worked its way 

 through the cavity in which the nest was situate, laying the latter 

 completely in ruins : this proved to be the finishing stroke. All the 

 wasps had either been destroyed or they had abandoned the place, 

 except one, and that one was full of eggs, while all the cells contained 

 either eggs or small larvae. 



On the 12th I took out a nest of V. vulgaris, and on the 13th 

 another of that species ; both were thoroughly examined, in the hope 

 of finding larvae of Ripiphorus, but no trace of the parasite could be 

 discovered. 



On the 15th I took a small nest of Vespa germanica, and on the 

 16th one of V. vulgaris; the latter was suspended from the thatch 

 inside the roof of a cow-shed. The combs belonging to both nests 

 were placed, after the covering had been removed, in situations in 

 which the work could be resumed. 



On the 17th I took out two nests of V. vulgaris; they were situated 

 almost close together, under ground. Search was made in both for 

 larvae of Ripiphorus, but none could be discovered. 



On the 20th another nest of V. vulgaris was obtained from under 

 ground, and on the 23rd one of the same species was removed from 

 the thatch of a cottage, in neither of which could larvae of Ripiphorus 

 be found. 



On the 24th I took out a small nest of V. germanica; the queen 

 wasp appeared to have perished some time previously. The combs, 

 three in number, were barely three inches in diameter, one of the 

 three not exceeding an inch : there were but about twenty workers 

 belonging to the nest, the colony having evidently much decreased in 

 number of late ; twelve males had become developed, and by far the 

 greater number of the cells appeared to contain males in an unde- 

 veloped state, but few containing larvae or pupae of workers. In no 

 other instance have I met with males of this species till a far later 

 period in the season. 



On the 26th I took a nest of V. vulgaris, which was suspended from 

 a rafter inside the roof of a forcing-house. No trace of Ripiphorus 

 could be discovered in it. 



Between the above date and the 1st of August I took out three 



