HYMENOPTERA. 
597 
have only two complete cubital cells ; the middle and the fore margin of the clypeus is emarginate, 
receiving the labrum in the emargination. The tribe is named after the typical genus, 
Masaris, Fabricius. 
Masaris proper, has the antennae rather longer than the liead and thorax, and the abdomen long. 
Celonites, Latr., has the antennae scarcely longer than the head, and the abdomen scarcely longer than the 
thorax. 
The second tribe of the Diploptera, that of the Vespari^, is composed of the genus 
Vespa, Linn., — 
The antennae of which are distinctly 13-jointed in the males, 12-jointed in the females, and terminated 
by an elongated mass, which is pointed and sometimes hooked at the ti|) (in the males) ; they are 
always elbowed, at least in the females and neuters. The lower lip is sometimes divided into four 
plumose filaments, and sometimes into three lobes, with four glandular points at the tip, the middle 
lobe being notched at the tip. If we except a very few species, the upper wings have three complete 
cubital cells. The females and neuters are armed with a powerful sting. Many live in societies, 
consisting of males, females, and neuters. 
The larvse are vermiform, without feet, and each is inclosed in a cell, where they feed either upon 
the dead bodies of insects which the parent Wasp had deposited at the same time as the egg, or upon 
the honey of flowers, the juice of fruits, or of animal matters, elaborated in the stomach of the females 
or neuters, and which these individuals feed them with daily. M. Saint Hilaire discovered a species 
in Brazil which makes an abundant provision of honey, which, like common honey, is under some 
circumstances poisonous. {Mem. du Mus. Hist. Nat.) 
Ceramius, Latr., has the fore wings extended and flat, and only two cubital cells. [Exotic species, one of which, 
C. lusifanicus, appears to be allied to Masaris.] In all the rest the fore wings are doubled [longitudi nally when 
at rest], and have three complete cubital cells. 
Some have the mandibles longer than broad, and beak-like ; the labium is narrow and elongate, with the clypeus 
cordate or oval. 
These are solitary Wasps, each species consisting of males and females, which last lay up a store of provisions 
for their young before they are born, and for the whole period of their larva state. Their nests are formed of 
earth, sometimes concealed in holes in walls, in the earth, or old wood, and sometimes they are fixed upon plants, 
the parents storing them with caterpillars or spiders, having previously wounded them with their stings. 
Synagris, Latr., has the labium divided into four long plumose filaments, without glandular points at the apex. 
[<S. cornuta, and other African species.] 
Eumenes, Latr. , has the labium divided into three pieces ; the middle one bifid, and all glandular at the tips. 
In some of these the abdomen is ovoid, or conic, and thick at the base, as in 
Pterochilus, King, having an elongated proboscis. {Pt. phalerata, a German species). 
Odynerus, Latr. (and Ryggchium, Spin.), in which the lower parts of the mouth are short. The female of 
V. muroMa forms burrows in the sand several inches deep, at the mouth of vfhich she constructs a curved earthy 
tube ; she provisions her nest with six or eight green larvse without feet, and with them deposits an egg, and then 
closes the mouth of the cell, and destroys the tube. [There are numerous British species.] 
In the others the abdomen has the basal joint narrow, long, and pear-shaped, and the second bell-shaped. 
Eumenes proper {E. coarctata, Fab.), the typical species, constructs its spherical nest upon the stems of plants, 
especially heath, in which it deposits an egg, together with a supply of honey, according to Geoflroy. 
In Eumenes the mandibles form a long and pointed beak ; in Zethus they are shorter, and the maxillary palpi 
not longer than the maxillse. In JJisccslius, which resembles Zethus in the mandibles, the maxillary palpi 
ai’e longer. 
The remaining species of Wasps have the mandibles scarcely longer than broad, with a broad and oblique trun- 
cation at the tip ; the labrum is short, and the clypeus nearly square. They form the genus 
Vespa proper (and Polistes, Latr.), and are united in societies, often very numerous, composed of males, 
fonales, and neuters. The two latter kinds of individuals form, with bits of old wood or bark, and which they 
detach with their jaws and reduce to a pulp-like paper, horizontal layers of hexagonal cells, like honey-comb, 
suspended from above by several short pillars and opening downv/ards, and which are solely used to lodge, in an 
isolated manner, the larvse and pupae. The number of these layers in a Wasp’s nest varies. The nest is some- 
times open and sometimes enveloped in a covering, with apertures leading to the cells. Its figure is varied in the 
different species. 
The females commence the nest [in the spring], and deposit eggs, which produce neuters, or workers, which 
assist in enlarging the nest, and tending the subsequent broods, until the beginning of autumn. The society con- 
sists only of these two kinds of individuals ; at that period, however, the young males and females appear, all the 
larvae and pupae which do not undergo their final change before November are destroyed by the neuters, which 
likewise perish, as well as the males, with the cold; a few females alone remain, to become the foundi-esses of fresh 
colonies in the following spring. Wasps feed upon other insects, meat, fruit, and feed their young with the juices 
