1932 ] Notes on Cuban Wasps and their Parasites 15 
to the laboratory, and by September 17, 14 males and 18 
females had emerged from the first nest, and 10 females 
from the second. Since the second nest was younger, only 
females were produced. No parasites were bred from 
either nest, though two of the males had mites on the 
sixth sternite. When I returned to the site of the first 
nest on September 11, the wasps which I failed to catch 
on my first visit were building a new comb. 
Beside the specimens from the nests, I collected a single 
female of this species at San Jose in the Trinidad Moun- 
tains on August 30. 
Polistes cubensis Lep. [J. Bequaert] 
This is the commonest species of Polistes around Sole- 
dad. I collected five nests from the bat caves at Guabairo, 
and one on the eastern side of the entrance to Cienfuegos 
Bay. The latter nest (see plate 1, figure 3) was hanging 
from a small tree about two meters above the ground. 
It resembles the nest of Polistes incertus, which was found 
in a similar location, but is one decimeter long and contains 
309 cells. The back of the comb is nearly flat, not concave. 
I captured 46 females from this nest on September 4, and 
33 females and one male emerged before September 17. 
No parasites were bred from the nest, and none of the 
wasps were stylopized. 
The nests from Guabairo were collected in sheltered 
places under limestone ledges in fairly thick woods. The 
one in plate 1, figure 4, is typical. The cells are intermedi- 
ate in size between those of Polistes major and P. incertus. 
The back of the comb is concave, and the most recent cells 
form a sort of apron at the bottom. The base of the 
pedicel is a black, lichen-like attachment about a centimeter 
and a half in diameter. The following table will give an 
idea of the relative size and population of the five nests. 
The length of the comb is measured on the concave sur- 
face, but the width is measured in a straight line. The 
number of cells includes those which are unfinished. 
