VICSPIDJE. 
215 
very large indeed and large nests probably exercise a considerable 
influence in keeping caterpillars down. The females hibernate in shelter 
in the colder parts of India for about two months or longer and it is at 
this time they are found in houses. Wasps have a distinct economic 
value as predaceous insects but are in some cases not welcome 
neighbours. The ! | hornets ” which attack persons in India are species 
of Vespa whose nest has been disturbed and their stings have been 
known to cause death. 
Of this family, 7 genera and nearly fifty species are recorded as 
Indian. Bingham figures the nests of two species of Ischnogaster, one 
solitary, one social, and regards this genus as the link between the 
solitary Eumenids and the social Yespids (Journ. Bombay Nat. His. 
Soc. V, p. 244). 
Icaria ferruginea , Fabr. (Fig. 120), is one of the common species in 
the plains ; it is the red-brown wasp with the yellow band across the 
second abdominal segment found commonly in Bombay and the 
Central Provinces. The hanging nest consists of a small number 
of delicate elongate cells. (Fig. 121.) Polistes hebrceus , Fabr., is the 
common insect making hanging nests in the verandahs of houses and 
in similar sheltered spots. This species has been to some extent 
observed; the fertilised females hide away in cracks and chinks in 
verandahs, roofs, trees, etc., in November; we have seen numbers 
of them flying about seeking a refuge and they fight freely when 
two are trying the same spot. Here they remain all the cold 
weather, emerging as the warm weather commences in March. In 
1907 they emerged as early as the third week of February, as did 
other hibernating Aculeates. The female then builds the nest, lays eggs 
in it and rears the young till they emerge to help her; larger nests are 
then made and these may last until later in the year or new nests may 
be begun by single females at any time. This insect has been reported 
from Peshawar as being so abundant in the Field Telegraph Stores that 
these could not be removed and as rendering houses uninhabitable in the 
Deccan by nesting in the verandahs. The nests are the habitat of a 
Pyralid larva (Hypsopygia Mauritialis , Guen.) which feeds on the larvae 
(see below). 
