Insects. 



6641 



Contributions to the Natural History of the British Vespidae. 

 By Edward Latham Ormerod, M.D., Physician to the Sussex 

 County Hospital. 



In the summer of 1856 I procured, through the kind and able 

 assistance of my sisters, a small swarm of Vespa britannica with 

 their nest, which for some weeks hung in full view outside my study 

 window. I propose, in the following pages, to present a summary of 

 the chief observations made on this and other swarms, which I owe to 

 the kindness of different friends. For most valuable assistance in 

 identifying the various species, as well by his papers in the ' Zoolo- 

 gist' as by personal communication, I am much indebted to Mr, 

 F. Smith, of the British Museum, who has made the subject of the 

 British Hymenoptera so peculiarly his own. I trust that these obser- 

 vations, however imperfect, may not be entirely without interest to 

 the student of Natural History, as a contribution to a subject not less 

 curious, though certainly less generally attractive, than the economy 

 of bees. 



The swarm, in the regular narrative of whose history my disjointed 

 observations on other swarms have been interpolated, was discovered 

 in the middle of June, in a hedgerow in Gloucestershire, where this 

 species of wasp is not uncommon. The nest was then about three inches 

 in diameter, of a globular form, very smooth, and showing few loose 

 edges of paper on the outside, and, with the exception of one or more 

 entrance-holes, it was completely closed at the bottom ; and it was 

 hung on a single spray, offering great facilities for its removal to a 

 more convenient situation for daily observation. 



This was effected very neatly by my sisters on a dull day, a piece 

 of soft wet paper having been carefully applied, previous to the ope- 

 ration, over the entrances. In two or three days the wasps recovered 

 themselves, and set to work to repair the injuries which their habita~ 

 tion had sustained. The nest grew rapidly, all the while retaining its 

 globular form, and being always closed in at the bottom, however the 

 form and position of the entrance-holes might vary. The ragged ends 

 of paper, which the rain and wind loosened, were always laid down 

 again or pared off, so as to keep the outside smooth. The nest had 

 very much the form of a large half-blown summer rose. 



With a view to its safe transmission from Gloucestershire to 

 Brighton, the nest and its inhabitants were now transferred to a box 

 of perforated zinc. The process, I am assured, was very exciting to 

 XVII. 2 U 



