174 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCES. 
been used, and undoubtedly were so, as 
the occasional occurrence of a green 
streak in the covering of either nest 
pointed to the probability of the material 
composing it having been gathered from 
some succulent plant; but, so far as I 
could observe, the first-mentioned sub- 
stance was the principal one*. Not being 
by any means skilled in the discrimina- 
tion of species, I took specimens of the 
insects from each colony to Oxford, and 
submitted them to Mr. Westwood for 
examination, who, in au interview with 
which I was favoured, obligingly informed 
me, that of the two latter one was Vespa 
rufa, the other V. holsatica ; and the 
former, if I understood him aright, a 
variety (according to Mr. Smith) of Vespa 
vulgaris. Now, of whatever species this 
wasp may be, it in this neighbourhood 
constantly builds under ground, and in 
that situation as constantly uses decayed 
wood in the construction of its nest. Since 
I have turned my attention to the habits 
of wasps I have never failed to find 
several of these nests annually. Not un- 
frequently as many as six or seven have 
been obtained in the course of a season ; 
I have already procured three this sum- 
mer, and know of a fourth, and in all 
probability several more will be dis- 
covered before the close of the season, so 
that it cannot be said to be of rare occur- 
rence. 
Mr. Smith’s high standing and great 
attainments in Science of necessity give 
great weight to any observations he may 
make : it is obvious therefore that if any 
remarks of his should chance to originate 
in error, and the very best and wisest of 
men do err at times, none being exempt 
from the liability, they will be productive 
of greater results, because more implicit 
reliance will be placed upon them than 
if they had been made by one less emi- 
nent in the walks of Science ; it becomes 
then of greater importance that a mistake 
made by him should be corrected, than 
ouc made by au ordinary individual. 
Feeling assured that it is far from, iudeed 
diametrically opposed to, Mr. Smith’s in- 
tention or desire knowingly to disseminate 
error, I venture, without further attempt 
at apology, to point out one iuto which 
he appears to have fallen. In a paper by 
that gentleman, published in No. 165 of 
the ‘Zoologist,’ at p. 5172, we read as 
follows : — “ It is necessary that an under- 
ground nest should be protected by a 
series of layers of delicate tissue; this is 
made by the scrapings of sound timber. 
The layers are spread over each other, 
and serve admirably to carry off any 
droppings of wet, and thus protect the 
inhabitants of the nest, who would soon 
perish if exposed to cold and wet, par- 
ticularly the young brood, which, as well 
as the perfect wasps, are very susceptible 
of its influence. 
“ When, on the contrary, the wasp 
builds on a beam or shelf, there is no 
necessity to protect the brood from wet, 
a certain degree of protection from the 
changes of temperature is all that is re- 
quired ; there is consequently no necessity 
for the labour required to make a covering 
of waterproof tissue, which, as stated 
above, is fabricated of materials obtained 
by scraping souud timber ; a different and 
far more beautiful covering is constructed 
of decayed wood, the covering having the 
appearance of being composed of a num- 
ber of light brown shells, having darker 
transverse bands. These beautiful shell- 
like formations, when immersed in water, 
are quickly dissolved and absorb moisture 
rapidly ; consequently they would not, in 
any way, answer as coverings to an under- 
ground nest.” 
Now, from what I have previously 
stated, it would appear that the very same 
material which, when manufactured into 
a covering for a wasp’s nest, Mr. Smith 
justly considers extremely ornamental, 
but does not seem disposed to allow to be 
equally useful, rejecting it, in fact, as 
being wholly unlit for a covering to an 
under-ground nest, is constantly employed 
