1979] 
Chadab & Rettenmeyer — Social Wasps 
349 
For example, a wasp with its wings raised at a 45° angle excitedly ran 
over the bodies of the wasps to the top of the leaf, turned and ran half 
the length of the leaf touching many wasps and again ran up through 
the center of the swarm before stopping to groom. 
For more than 2 hr the number of wasps on the wire at the new nest 
site fluctuated from 7-25 (Table 1). Most were constantly palpating 
35 cm of the wire with their antennae and mouthparts as they slowly 
walked back and forth over it. The activity was suggestive of cleaning 
since the wasps nibbled almost imperceptibly at the wire with mandi¬ 
bles that were barely open and moved their maxillae actively. No 
wasp was ever observed dragging its gaster on the wire. 
Table 1. Timing of swarm movement of Polybia velutina on 25 June 1977. 
Time 
PM 
Swarm Site 
Numbers of Wasps 
in Flight 
New Nest Site 
1:40 
300“ 
- 
17 
2:00 
300* 
- 
25 
2:15 
300“ 
- 
9 
2:20 
300“ 
- 
13 
2:35 
300“ 
- 
7 
2:40 
300* 
- 
15 
2:55 
300“ 
- 
18-22 
3:40 
O 
o 
- 
20-26 
4:10 
to 
o 
o 
25-30 
50“ 
4:15 
20 
40-50 
200“ 
4:23 
10 
5-10“ 
200“ 
4:30 
10 
5-10“ 
200“ 
4:40 
8 
5-1 O' 
200“ 
4:50 
11 
5-10“ 
o 
o 
5:40 
1 
- 
to 
o 
o 
6:00 
0 
- 
200“ 
“estimated 
The number of wasps at the new nest site increased rapidly between 
3:40 and 4:00 PM, indicating the beginning of the major emigration. 
At that time 25-30 wasps were also simultaneously in flight between 
the 2 sites. The first carton was added to the wire between 4:00 and 
4:10 PM, and the number of wasps in flight increased to 40-50. The 
wasps hovered in the air making a diffuse cloud of wasps along the 
path between the swarm and the new nest. Several wasps landed 
briefly on leaves of the Codeum, and 2 wasps dragged their gaster, 
each on different leaves. On a third leaf, 3 wasps paused in what 
