18fi8.] 2G1 
November the first imago made its appearance. The specimen was duly boxed 
and placed on one side ; at the end of a month it was alive and uninjured, having 
remained all that time quite quiet. About a week after the emergence of the first 
specimen the pupa of another commenced colouring, occupying throe weeks before 
its entire coloration was eflFected ; the perfect insect coming out on the 14th of 
December. These two insects were then sent oflf by post to a friend. I bred the 
third specimen on the 21st of December ; the fourth has not yet put in an appear- 
ance, and is possibly dead. The third was very sluggish, seemingly in a state of 
semi-torpidity ; this specimen was sent through the post alive, a distance of nearly 
60 miles ; possibly by the time it reached its destination, owing to the almost 
constant jolting through the post, it may have exhibited something of the liveliness 
of movement for which the insects in this genus are famous. I cannot help 
thinking but that it is the natural habit of the creature to appear thus late in the 
season, the more so as all three of my specimens were bred under circumstances 
most favourable to their early development, namely, indoors, in a comparatively 
warm room. — Chas. Healy, 74, Napier Street, Hoxton, N., 23rd January, 1868. 
British Social Wasps ; an inti'oduction to their Anatomy and Physiology, Archi- 
tecture and general Natm-al History, by Edward Latham Ormerod, M.D. (Longman 
and Co., 1868.) 
We have long and anxiously waited for the publication of this book, the author 
having, in his occasional papers on wasps, intimated his intention of giving, in a 
collected form, his observations and labours on the subject of those insects ; and 
the work more than realizes our expectations, bearing, as it does, that stamp 
which is only impressed on the labours of those who, like the author, pen each 
topic " as freshly suggested by nature." 
Henceforth, Dr. Ormerod' s book will take its place as a standard work, which 
may be added to by subsequent observers, but must always form an integral part 
of all future histories of the wasp. 
If the work did not contain any oversights, it would not be the production of 
an enthusiast,— in other words, of one in love with his subject : thus, at page 26, 
Dr. Ormerod speaks of the "two species" of solitary wasps that represent the 
EumenidcB in this country ; whereas, their number is thirteen. The " two species " 
should have read " two genera," as our author unquestionably knows. 
The chapter on the architecture of wasps is full of original observations ; 
and, if carefully studied, will enable anyone to determine the species by which 
any nest has been constructed ; there can be no necessity for seeing the 
architect, the impress of the work of the seven species being so graphically por- 
trayed that mistake is scarcely possible. In this chapter the various theories 
respecting the construction of the hexagonal form of the cells of bees and wasps 
is alluded to, and the author refers it to instinctive impulse ; the walls of cells, he 
observes, are "raised at once in accurate outlines, each building-pellet being 
applied with great exactness to three sides, two of one cell and another of an 
adjoining cell." 
