248 
Psyche 
[Vol. 90 
may also be the case for the other species of Polistes where data on 
nest failure rates are not available. 
Polistes has slightly longer development times than other social 
wasps. Paravespula vulgaris, Dolichovespula sylvestris and Vespa 
crabro all have summer egg development times of about 5 days, 
larva development times of 10 to 15 days and pupa development 
times of 1 1 to 15 days (Spradbery, 1973). The shorter development 
times in these species as compared to Polistes may be due to the 
much larger colony sizes found in these species, as well as their 
ability to eat a greater variety of arthropods and carrion. 
Acknowledgements 
We thank Christi Steinbarger and Dana Meyer for help with field 
work, and Bill Mueller and Colin Hughes for their comments on the 
manuscript. This research was supported by NSF Postdoctoral Fel- 
lowship #SPI-7914902 and NSF #DEB80-05739 to JES. 
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