VES 
Vertical plane, in perspective, is a plane 
perpendicular to the geometrical plane, 
passing through the eye, and cutting tlie 
perspective plane at right angles. 
Vertical plane, in conics, is a plane 
passing through the veitex of the cone, and 
parallel to any conic section. 
VESPA, in natural history, the wasp. 
Mouth horny, with a compressed jaw ; 
feelers four, unequal, filiform; antennas 
filiform, the first joint longer and cylin- 
drical ; eyes linear; body glabrous; up- 
per wings folded in each sex ; sting pun- 
gent, concealed in the abdomen. More 
than two hundred species have been 
enumerated, divided into three sections, 
which are again divided into sub-sections. 
A. Tongue simple ; or without any. B. 
Tongue bifid, retractile. C. Tongue in- 
flected, and five-cleft. Wasps live mostly 
in numerous societies, constructing curious 
nests, or combs, generally under grotind ; 
they prey upon other insects, especially 
bees and flies, and devour meal, bread, and 
fruit ; the larva is soft, without feet, and 
feeds on the nectar of flowers and honey ; 
the pupa quiescent, and has the rudiments 
of wings. V. vulgaris, or common wasp,^ 
is well known to every one. The nest of 
this species is a highly curious structure, 
and is prepared beneath the surface of some 
dry bank, or other convenient situation. 
Its shape is that of an upright oval, often 
measuring ten or twelve inches at least 
in diameter; it consists of several ho- 
rizontal stages or stories of hexagonal 
cells, the interstices of each story being 
connected at intervals by upright pillars ; 
and the exterior surface of the nest consists 
of a great many layers or pieces, disposed 
over each other in such a manner as best to 
secure the interior cavity from the effects 
of cold and moisture ; the whole nest, com- 
prising both walls and cells, is composed of 
a substance very much resembling the 
coarser kinds of whitish-brown paper, and 
consists of the fibres of various dry vegeta- 
ble substances, agglutinated by a tenacious 
fluid, discharged from the mouths of the in- 
sects during their operations. The female 
wasps deposit their eggs in the cells, one in 
each cell appropriated for that purpose ; 
from these are hatched the larva, or mag- 
gots, which bear a near resemblance to 
those of bees : they are fed by the labour- 
ing wasps with a coarse kind of honey, and 
when arrived at their full size, close up 
their respective cells with a, fine tissue of 
ilken filaments, and, after a certain period. 
VES 
emerge in their complete or perfect form. 
The male insect, like the male bee, is desti- 
tute of a sting. The society or swarm of 
the common wasp, consists of a vast num- 
ber of neutral or labouring insects, a much 
smaller number of males, and still fewer fe- 
males. They do not, like bees, prepare and 
lay up a store of honey for winter use ; but 
the few which survive the season of their 
birth, remain torpid during the colder 
months. 
V. crabo, the hornet, is a species of a far 
more formidable nature than the common 
wasp, and is of considerably larger size : its 
colour is a tawny yellow, with ferruginous 
and black bars, and variegations. The nest 
of this species is generally built in the ca- 
vity of some decayed tree, or immediately 
beneath its roots ; and not unfrequently in 
timber yards and other similar situations. 
It is of smaller .size than that of the wasp, 
and of a somewhat globular form, with an 
opening beneath ; the exterior shell con- 
sisting of more or few layers of the same 
strong paper like substance with that pre- 
pared by the wasp : the cells are also of a 
similar nature, but much fewer in number, 
and less elegantly composed. The hornet, 
like the wasp, is extremely voracious. 
VESPERTILIO, the bat, in natural his- 
tory, a genus of Mammalia, of the order 
Primates. Generic character: teeth erect, 
sharp-pointed, approximated ; fore-feet pal- 
mated, with a membrane surrounding the 
bodv, and bv which the animal is enabled 
to fly. Bats fly only by night, in quest of 
their food, consisting of gnats and moths, 
and when deprived of their eyes, appear to 
feel no want of them, having a supplemen- 
tal power of perception, by which they 
avoid objects in the way with nearly as 
much precision as in their perfect state. In 
cold climates they pass the winter in tor- 
por, assembling in holes and in caverns, in 
which they are occasionally seen adhering 
in great numbers to the walls, and some- 
times suspended by their hind legs. Ihe 
bones of the extremities of the fore legs of 
bats are continued into long and thiii pro- 
cesses, connected by a fine and almost 
transparent skin, which they are pnabled to 
unfold optionally, for flight, or to withdraw 
into a very small compass, ^when they wash 
to repose. The general division is into 
those which have tails, and those which have 
none. There are twenty-five species. 
V. murinus, or the common bat, is two 
inches and a half long, including its tail, 
and nine wide, and is of a reddish-brown 
