1931] Nest-Building Habits of Polls tes rubiginosus 141 
vides honey for the first meal for the larvae, just as do the 
other species of Polistes. 7 
Although eight or nine queens were on the new nest 
on the ceiling, they had not yet entirely abandoned the old 
one on the ledge. Three wasps, still wearing their identifi- 
cation marks, were on it, but all that was left of that beau- 
tiful nest of 175 cells was the mutilated stumps of about 
twenty-five cells. However, the wasps had tried to do some- 
thing for the colony. Most of the cells contained eggs, but 
four cells had two eggs each, and two had three eggs. Per- 
haps it is no wonder their egg-laying instinct had gone 
astray amid such confusion. 
The wasps guarded this new nest carefully. Only a few 
ventured out at any one time. Possibly they had something 
to fear from ants. A mouse made itself quite at home, run- 
ning along the ledge nearby, not fearing even my presence ; 
no doubt he would have made inroads on the eggs and 
larvae if the guards had not been present. 
We can readily see how Polistes annularis , coming back 
to the old home nest in the trees in the spring after a period 
of hibernation in a distant sheltered spot, can readily dis- 
seminate to similar branches near by. Obviously it is not 
so easy for P. rubiginosis to find nesting-places which 
fill her exacting requirements other than the immediate 
site of the parental nest. This difficulty, coupled with the 
innate tendency to return, probably accounts for the habit 
of nesting repeatedly near the same spot. In the photo- 
graph (fig. 1) the knot-hole 8 affords an entrance to a 
colony of rubiginosis situated in the dark space between 
the inside and outside wall. The paper nest was attached 
to the horizontal beam. Horizontal and vertical studding 
7 See article on “Honey Gathering Habits of Polistes.” Biol. Bull. 
54: 503-519, 1928. 
8 The knot-hole is the scene of the observations on behavior 
described under the title, “At the end of the season with Polistes 
rubiginosis.” (Ent. News 40: 7-13. 1929.) There I have shown how 
the inhabitants of the nest congregate in clusters about the opening 
with nothing to do but wait for the impulse to seek hibernating quar- 
ters. I failed, however, to include one note on the return of these 
wasps to this knot-hole the following spring, which I wish to add 
here, because it shows how after a period of hibernation elsewhere, 
the wasps (like annularis ) remember the home site and return to it. 
