POXTON-FIRBT : SOCIAL TREE WASP. 



81 



gular, and spreading, all long pointed, toothed, naked above, but hairy 

 beneath on the nerves. Peduncles and base of calyx slightly hairy. 

 Ext. Kegel Gartenflora 1862, p. 204, tab. 366. 



As I have no authentic specimens, and have not seen the plate I cannot 

 determine the synonymy of this form ; it probably is not found in England. 



In conclusion I may state that most of the forms I have examined may 

 be referred to one or other of the above proposed species, with little or no 

 difficulty. 



In order to render their discrimination more easy I add a dichotomous 

 table showing their principal characters : — 



1. — Nerves divergent, style one 2. 



„ convergent, styles 2-3 oxyacanthoides. 



2. — Peduncle and calyx hairy kyrtostyla. 



„ smooth 3. 



3. — Leaves pinnatifid only monogyna. 



, , deeply pinnatifid, or quite pinnate towards th e base. . . laciniata. 

 Muddersfield, 1st Septemher, 1866. 



THE PENDULOUS NEST OE A SOCIAL TEEE WASP. 



By E. Eoxton-Eirby, E.A.S.L., E.E.A.S., (fee. 



During the summer of 1864, while out on the borders of the western 

 moorlands, which trend away northward from Pateley Bridge, I was fortu- 

 nate in discovering a beautiful specimen of a pendent vespiary, suspended 

 from the branch of a hazel-bush. This elegant nest is about the size of an 

 egg, but is more of a globular than^an ovoid form. It consists of several 

 concentric bells, with considerable intervals between each, the interior only 

 being entire, and furnished with a small circular orifice, the rest reaching 

 only about two-thirds from the base of the nest. In the nucleus of the 

 complete or entire bell, is situated the congeries of cells, built round a small 

 central piUar attached to the base ; the cells are few in number, and their 

 orifices are all vertical. The nest I have reason to suspect is that of Vespa 

 liolsatica, Eabr., rather uncommon in England, and said to be much larger 

 than the nidus of Vespa Britannica, Leach. In the Magazine of Natural 

 History 1839, p, 458, Mr. Shuckard gives an account of the nest of a wasp, 



