(pr awsae nicangiome 
616 
than wide, and broadly and obliquely truncated 
at the extremity ; the clypeus is large and nearly 
square,—and the middle of its anterior margin 
is widely truncated, and has a tooth on each 
side; the ligula is short or but slightly elongat- 
ed; and the abdomen is ovoidal or conical. The 
individuals of each species live in large societies 
or communities, composed of males, females, and 
neuters; and all the females and neuters are 
armed with an extremely powerful and veno- 
mous sting. The nest or domicile of a commu- 
nity consists of a variable number of combs or 
amassments of cells; it is constructed by the 
females and the neuters with a pultaceous sub- 
stance, similar to paper or pasteboard, formed 
out of particles of old wood or bark, detached 
with the mandibles, and afterwards moistened 
and reduced; it usually comprises horizontal 
ranges of combs, suspended by one or more pedi- 
cles, and has on its inferior side a range of ver- 
tical cells in the form of hexagonal and trun- 
cated pyramids; and in some cases it is exposed, 
but in others is surrounded by an envelope, which 
has a common and generally a central opening, 
and to the parietes of which the combs adhere, 
whether they be in the open air, or hid in the 
earth, or concealed in the hollows of trees. A 
few females alone are alive at the beginning of 
each season, and they found the communities by 
laying eggs, which produce neuters; and these, 
when matured, assist in enlarging the nest and 
taking care of the succeeding young ones. The 
larve are vermiform, and destitute of feet, and, 
as well as the pupa, inhabit each a separate cell ; 
and all which cannot complete their metamor- 
phoses before the month of November are put to 
death and dragged from their cells by the neu- 
ters. The males and the young females make 
their appearance in the beginning of autumn; 
and all the males, all the neuters, and some of | 
the females perish on the approach of winter, 
leaving only a few females to survive till spring 
and found new communities. The males never 
work. The larve lie with their head downward ; 
and, when about to pass into the pupa state, 
they shut themselves upand spin a cocoon. The 
females and neuters feed principally on fruit, and 
nourish the larvee with its juices. 
Six species of wasp, if not more, occur in Bri- 
tain; but the principal are the hornet, the com- 
mon wasp, and the small wasp.—The first is 
noticed in the article Hornet.—The common 
wasp, Vespa vulgaris, is about eight lines long, 
of a predominantly black colour, with a yellow 
patch and black point in the middle on the front 
of the head, several yellow spots on the thorax, 
four yellow spots on the scutellum, and a yellow 
band with three black spots on the posterior 
margin of the rings of the abdomen. The males 
are smaller in size and sting less than the fe- 
males; and the number of each in a community 
is nearly equal, and commonly amounts to be- 
tween 200 and 300; but the number of cells in a 
W ASP. 
vespiary often amounts to more than 10,000, and 
each cell serves for three ovule deposits or three 
successive larvee in a year, so that the total 
number of wasps produced in one community in 
a single season may amount to 30,000. The 
nests are built in the ground, and consist of a 
substance so very like paper that only a keen 
observer could discern the difference. — The 
small wasp, Vespa coarctata, resembles the com- 
mon wasp in almost every thing except the size 
of the body and the form and habitat of the nest, 
—the latter having an oval outline, and being 
usually suspended from the branches of trees, 
and coated with a kind of varnish which renders 
it impervious to moisture. 
“Few insects,” says Mr: Duncan, “are more 
troublesome to horticulturists than the wasp; 
and all their care can scarcely prevent it from 
annually appropriating a share of the choicest 
produce of their labours. Proverbially pert, irri- 
table, and intrusive, confident in its hard coat 
and formidable sting, this winged pest is ever 
on the watch for some sweet morsel, and almost 
every kind of fruit is attacked with eagerness. 
Pears, apricots, and plums seem, however, to 
afford its most favourite repast, the latter espe- 
cially ; for, according to a local English rhyme, 
‘* When the plum hangs on the tree, 
Then the wasp you're sure to see.” 
It is even alleged, that those seasons most fa- 
vourable to the growth of plums, produce the 
greatest number of wasps, a coincidence which 
may well occur, for dry and warm weather is 
beneficial to both. The number of these insects 
varies greatly in different seasons, and occasion- 
ally from causes which we cannot appreciate. 
Thus, in the summer of 1836, so few appeared in 
England, that the circumstance was remarked 
even by those who are least observant of such 
things; in 1814, on the contrary, they abounded 
to a most extraordinary degree in every part of 
Britain. It is well known that the whole inha- 
bitants of the vespiary perish in the winter, ex- 
cept a few females, who continue in a torpid 
state during the inclement season, and revive in 
the spring; on these devolves the whole duty of 
constructing a nest and founding a new repub- 
lic; it may be supposed, therefore, that an un- 
usually severe winter, or a cold and backward 
spring, would either entirely destroy a portion of 
these few solitary matrons, or so interfere with 
their operations for continuing the species, as to 
diminish the entire brood throughout the year. 
It is not, however, of their paucity we have in 
general to complain, but of the difficulty of get- 
ting rid of those that visit us. The existence of 
solitary females in spring, on whom the conti- 
nuance of the race entirely depends, shows what 
effect would attend any measure taken against 
them then. In the north of Scotland, where we 
have seen wasps so abundant as to become a 
very serious evil, we have known instances of 
