1972] 
Corn — Pollster carnifex 
1 5 1 
Table 1 
Adult populations of six nests of Polistes carnifex. 
Nest 
Associated 
with Polybia 
Total Adult 
Population 
Male 
Number of Females 
in Each Reproductive 
Class (see Text)* 
ABC 
2 
+ 
13 
1 
0 
1 
9 
3A 
+ 
13 
0 
4 
1 
6 
4 
+ 
8** 
2 
0 
1 
3 
B6a 
— 
8 
0 
0 
1 
5 
B6b 
— 
4 
.. 0 
0 
0 
2 
B7 
— 
8 
0 
1 
0 
5 
* The sum of males and females listed here does not equal the total popu- 
lation because two specimens were saved for identification from each nest. 
**Two specimens escaped from this nest; therefore, only six animals were 
examined. 
known to have escaped and both of these were from nest number 4. 
Three of the nests were associated with polybiine nests; 3 were not. 
The maximum nest size was about 9 cm in diameter. In one nest, 
cells from which at least one emergence had occurred had an aver- 
age length of 27.8 mm (s = 2.770 mm). In all of the nests, the 
central cells were in at least their second cycle of brood, that is, the 
age of the nests was greater than 1 according to the terminology of 
Richards and Richards (1951). 
The total adult population on these nests ranged from 4 to 13 
(Table 1). All but 2 of the adults from each nest were dissected. 
The remainder were saved for identification and have been deposited 
in the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and the British 
Museum of Natural History. The dissected females were divided 
into the following 3 categories: (A) those females with 4 or more 
full-sized eggs; (B) those females with 1-3 full-sized eggs; and 
(C) those females with no full-sized eggs. The last category in- 
cluded 5 females with very small eggs. Table 1 shows that not all 
nests included a female with well developed ovaries. Possibly laying 
females were among those saved for identification. 
Table 2 shows the number of eggs, larvae, capped cells (pre- 
pupae and pupae), and empty cells in each nest. There was no 
clear evidence of parasitism in any of the nests. In 3 cells, there 
was an additional egg, but these eggs seemed to be carnifex eggs, 
rather than parasites. Ten arbitrarily selected larvae were dissected. 
They showed no evidence of parasitism. 
Unfortunately, time was too short for behavioral studies at this 
site. However, it is clear that there are no obvious differences be- 
