V E S 
368 V E S 
confine ourselves, in this article, to a description of two 
species:— 
1. Vespa vulgaris, or common wasp.—This has an inter¬ 
rupted small line on both sides of the thorax; a four-spotted 
scutellum, and the incisions of the abdomen marked with 
black spots. M. Reaumur and Dr. Derham agree in distin¬ 
guishing three sorts of wasps; viz., the queens or females, 
the males, and the common labouring wasps, called mules, 
which, according to Reaumur, are neither males nor females, 
and consequently barren. The queens, of which there is a 
considerable number, though fewer than the males, and of 
course much fewer than the neutral or labouring wasps, are 
much longer in the body, and larger than any other wasp: 
they have a large heavy belly, corresponding in size to the 
prodigious quantity of eggs with which they are charged. 
The males are less than the queens, but longer and larger 
than the common wasps, which are the smallest of the 
species: they have no stings, with which both the queens and 
common wasps are furnished. There are in one nest two or 
three hundred males, and as many females; but their num¬ 
ber depends on the size of the nest; and Dr. Derham ob¬ 
served that the males were bred, or at least mostly resided, 
in the two cells or partings, between the combs, next to the 
uppermost cell. The antennee or horns of the male wasps, 
are longer and larger than those of either of the other sorts; 
but the chief difference, says Dr. Derham, consists in their 
parts of generation, which are altogether different from those 
of other wasps. 
The mules are the labourers belonging to the nest, and are 
employed in procuring materials for the nests, and in con¬ 
structing them, and also in furnishing the other wasps, and 
the young, with provisions. 
At the beginning of winter, the wasps destroy all the 
eggs, and all the young ones without exception; all the 
mules and males which have been employed in this work, 
being unfurnished with provisions, perish ; and none survive, 
except some few females, which, according to Reaumur, 
were fecundated in October, and raise a new colony in the 
beginning of spring. 
The wasps construct regular combs, and rear their young 
in the cells of these combs, in the manner of bees. 
A wasp’s nest is commonly round, or oval, measuring 
about ten or twele inches in diameter, and made of materials 
resembling the coarser kinds of whitish-brown paper. These 
materials consist of the fibres of various dry vegetable sub¬ 
stances, agglutinated by a tenacious fluid, discharged from 
the mouths of the insects during their operations. The 
common covering of it, which is formed of several leaves or 
layers, with intermediate spaces, is pierced by two holes at 
a distance from one another, one of which is used for the 
entrance of the wasps, and the other only for their exit. 
The space within this covering is cut by a number of hori¬ 
zontal planes, with intervals between them of the size of 
about half an inch ; they are suspended from one another by 
ligaments, and attached to the covering by their edges; they 
all have hexagonal cells in their lower surface. 
The wasps do not, like bees, prepare and lay up a store 
of honey for winter use, but the few which survive the sea¬ 
son of their birth, remain torpid during the colder months. 
Wasps in general are both carnivorous and frugivorous. 
2. Vespa crabro, or hornet.—This has its thorax black on 
the-fore part, and unspotted, having the incisures of the ab¬ 
domen marked with a double contiguous black spot. This 
species is of a much more formidable nature than the com¬ 
mon wasp, and of considerably larger size: its colour is a 
tawny yellow, with ferruginous and black bars and variega¬ 
tions. The nest of this species is generally built in the cavity 
of some decayed tree, or immediately beneath its roots; and 
not unfrequently in timber-yards, and other similar situa¬ 
tions. It is of smaller size than that of the wasp, and of a 
somewhat globular form, with an opening beneath; the ex¬ 
terior shell consisting of more or few r er layers of the same 
strong paper-like substance with that prepared by the wasp: 
the cells are also of a similar nature, but much fewer in num¬ 
ber, and less elegantly composed. The hornet, like the 
wasp, is extremely voracious, and preys on almost any kind 
of fresh animal substances which it can obtain, as well as on 
honey, fruit, &c. &c. Its sting is greatly to be dreaded, and 
is often productive of very serious consequences. 
VESPATIAN. See Rome. 
VESPER, a small island in the Pacific Ocean, about 36 
miles in circumference; about 60 miles west of Pernicious 
Island. 
VE'SPER, s. [Latin.] The evening star; the evening. 
—These signs are black Fever’s pageants. Shalcspeare . 
VE'SPERS, s. [without the singular, from vesperus, Lat.] 
The evening service of the Romish church. 
VESPERTILIO, Bat, in Zoology, a genus of the order 
primates, in the class of mammalia; which, though ranked 
by Linneeus in the order of primates, differs greatly from the 
rest. The characters of this genus are, that the teeth are 
erect, sharp-pointed, and approximated ; and that the hands 
are palmated with a membrane surrounding the body, and 
giving the animal the pow'er of flight. Dr. Shaw observes, 
that the curious formation of these animals cannot be con¬ 
templated without admiration; the bones of the extremities 
being continued into long and thin processes, connected by 
a most delicate membrane or skin, capable, from its thinness, 
of being contracted at pleasure into innumerable wrinkles, 
so as to lie in a small space when the animal is at rest, and 
to be stretched to a very wide extent for occasional flight. 
The species of this extraordinary genus are numerous, and 
may be divided into the tailed and tailless bats. Gmelin, 
in his edition of the Linnsean System, enumerates twenty- 
three species, and distributes them into several division?, 
according to the number of the fore-teeth in the upper and 
lower jaw. 
I.—Bats with four Fore-teeth in both Jaws. 
1. Vespertilio vampyrus.—Tailless bat, with the nose sim¬ 
ple, or without any appendage, and the flying membrane 
divided between the thighs. This is the ternate bat of Pen¬ 
nant; and this, or the variety a. of Gmelin, the colour of 
which is chiefly black, is the vespertilio ingens of Clusius, 
the vespertilio volans of Bontius, the chien volant of Dau- 
benton, and roussette of Buffon. Gmelin enumerates two 
other varieties, differing in size and colour; one the great 
bat of Edwards, or rougette of Buffon, and the other the 
lesser ternate bat of Pennant. 
2. Vespertilio spectrum.—Tailless bat, with a funnel- 
shaped, sharp-pointed membrane on the nose.—This is the 
andira guacu, vespertilio cornutus of Piso, the vampyre of 
Buffon, or spectre bat of Pennant. 
3. Vespertilio perspicillatus.—A tailless bat, with a nose 
furnished with a plane leaf acuminated.—This is found in 
South America, and is supposed by some to be the javelin 
bat of Pennant. 
4. Vespertilio spasma,—A tailless bat, with a doubly 
heart-shaped leaf-like membrane on the nose. This is the 
glis volans ternatanus of Seba, and cordated bat of Pennant. 
The colour is reddish-brown; the extent of wing about 
fifteen inches, and length of body nearly four inches.—It is 
a native of Ceylon and the Molucca islands. 
5. Vespertilio hastatus.—A tailless bat, with a trefoil¬ 
shaped upright membrane on the nose. This is the javelin 
bat of Pennant, with large pointed ears, a membrane at the 
nose in the form of an ancient javelin, with two upright pro¬ 
cesses on each side, cinereous fur, and of the size of the 
common bat: synonymous, according to Pennant, with the 
vespertilio perspicillatus of Linnaeus, and inhabiting the 
warmer parts of America. 
6. Vespertilio soricinus.—A tailless bat, with lengthened 
snout, furnished with a heart-shaped, leaf-like membrane. 
This is the leaf bat of Pennant, and bat from Jamaica of 
Edwards; with small rounded ears, a web between the hind¬ 
legs ; fur of a mouse-colour, tinged with red, and size of the 
common bat.—Found in South America. 
7 . Vespertilio leporinus.—Tailed bat, with the upper lip 
bifid. This is the Peruvian bat of Pennant. It has a head 
resembling that of a pug-dog; the ears are large and straight, 
sharp 
