6o 
Psyche 
[March 
van der Vecht (1962) consisted of a single comb attached by a 
number of pillars to the underside of a fern frond and enclosed in 
a “silk-like canopy resembling polythene in colour and degree of 
transparency” (p. 70). The photographs of this nest reveal the 
striking resemblance of the canopy to the film described above for 
P. fuscatus , even down to the ridged thickenings. Van der Vecht 
mentions, however, that the covering was “very delicate” (p. 70), 
whereas that of P. fuscatus was quite tough. 
To my knowledge Pseudocharter gus and Ropalidia are the only 
genera to enclose their nests in a transparent film. However, wasps 
of the genera. Polistes, Mischocyttarus and probably others produce 
a similar substance which they apply with their mouthparts to build 
up the very tough petioles from which their nests are suspended 
(Rau, 1933; Eberhard, 1969). It is possible that these two sub- 
stances have a common glandular source. 
Richards and Richards ( 1951 ) classify the nest of Psmd' charter gus 
charter goides as stelocyttarous and gymnodomous; that is, the comb 
is attached by petioles to the substrate and is not surrounded by an 
envelope. But they observed no nests in the field and apparently 
relied on the description written by Ducke (1910), which makes 
no mention of a clear film joining the leaves surrounding the nest. 
Bequaert (1938), however, mentions the film, and it was consistently 
present in the nests of P. chartergoides I found near Belem. Since 
the leaves and film form an envelope that surrounds the nest, much 
as do the more conventional carton envelopes of other genera, I am 
inclined to conclude that the nests of these two species can properly 
be called calyptodomous. 
Stelopolybia (Gymnopolybia) testacea 
This nest was collected on July 22, 1968, in rain forest at Fazenda 
Taperinha, 40 km east of Santarem, Para, Brazil (2°26'S, 5^°/ii'W) . 
It was discovered where it had fallen onto a footpath. The nest 
had been suspended about ten meters above the ground beneath a 
large, woody spathe of an “inaja” palm ( Maximiliana reg : a Mart.). 
This inverted spoon-shaped structure, nearly a meter in length, had 
Fig. 4. The nest of Stelopolybia testacea as it lay on the ground when 
discovered. The supporting spathe, to the left and rear, arches over the 
combs, which lie stacked face up. The topmost comb, number 11, is folded 
back upon itself. There are numerous adult wasps on the spathe and combs. 
Fig. 5. S. testacea nest reconstructed, as it would appear from beneath 
if the nest were in situ. The base of the spathe is at the right. The semi- 
cylindrical form of the nest is most pronounced in the older combs, at the 
top of the illustration. About 1/8 natural size. 
