PSYCHE 
VOL. XXXVIII DECEMBER, 1931 
No. 4 
THE NESTING HABITS OF POLISTES RUBIGINOSIS, 
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PLEOMETROSIS 
IN THIS AND OTHER SPECIES OF 
POLISTES WASPS 
By Phil Rau 
Kirkwood, Missouri 
The ingenuity of various species of Polistes in their task 
of nest-building, and the consistency with which each species 
adapts the nest to the chosen situation, have ever been 
the cause of pleasant surprise to the student of these wasps. 
In a paper recently published 1 on the habitat of Polistes, 
we find that each of the four species that are common here- 
abouts choose nesting-sites which are more or less distinct. 
Polistes pallipes build their symmetrical nests in sheds, 
barns, and under the eaves of roofs where space is not 
limited. Polistes variatus make their nests more compact, 
to fit small spaces under rocks on the ground or in pockets 
in banks of soil. P. annularis build nests in the tree-tops, 
with a side-wise tilt and a heavy roof to shed the rain. 
But P. ruhiginosis long kept their secret of where they hid 
their nests. It was indeed puzzling that the literature con- 
tained so little on the habits of a wasp which is so common 
and conspicuous in the fields. The reason is evident when 
we learn that they habitually build in dark, inaccessible 
places, often high up out of reach, in hollow trees, or 
1 Ecology, 10:191-200. 1929. 
