COMMON WASP. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Mouth armed with jaws ; no tongue. 
Upper wings folded. 
Sting sharp and pointed ; concealed within the abdomen. 
Body smooth ; without hair. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Vespa vulgaris. V. thorace utrinque lineola interrupta., scu- 
tello quadrimaculato, abdominis incisuris 
punctis nigris distinctis. Linn. Syst. Nat. 
Gmel. 1. p. 2750. 
A broken line on each side the thorax • sou- 
tellum marked with four spots j abdomen 
marked with distinct black points. 
Common Wasp. Degeer Ins. 2. p. 111. pi. 26 . f. 7. Reaum. 
Ins. 6. pi. 12. f. 7, 8. Schceff. Icon. 
pi. 35. f. 4. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 285. 
pi. 95. Nest. pi. 96. 
The Abbe La Pluche begins his account of these in- 
sects in the following pleasing but allegorical manner: 
“ While I was employed in digesting my remarks 
on the changes that happen to flies of every species, 
a person came to acquaint me, that some husband- 
men who were at work in the neighbourhood had 
