214 
HYMENOPTERA. 
successive communities may continue nests in the same spot. 
Workers,. i.e., imperfect females, are found in the more highly organised 
communities and a nest may contain a large number of individuals. 
Owing to the ferocity of their disposition and the virulence of their 
stings, precise observations have not been made into the habits of these 
insects in India and little is known of them. 
Nests are commonly made of papery material consisting of chewed 
vegetable fibre. Polistes hebrceus may often be seen working at dry 
posts or trunks from which the bark has been stripped, first moistening 
a spot, then working off the fibre and taking it away. A nest consists 
of cells of hexagonal form, hanging with the opening downwards; in 
the simple nests of Icaria there are two rows of cells only; in the 
more complex nests of Polistes , the cells form horizontal combs, hung 
by stalks, and with a diameter of six or more inches in rare cases; there 
may be one comb below another but the combs are open all round. In 
Vespa , there is an envelope, the nest completely enclosed and with the 
combs inside clear of the envelope so that there is access to each comb 
all round; in others the comb is attached to the envelope and access is 
gained by a central space passing up through the combs. 
The wasps feed on caterpillars, mantid.s, bugs, grasshoppers, beetles 
and other insects and some constantly seek for fruit juice, sugar, sweets 
and such material. The young are fed up on the crushed insects 
brought home by the parent or worker, but few details have been 
recorded. The number of caterpillars these wasps eat is apparently 
