concerning wasps which are worth recollecting. One is that wasps, unlike bees, rarely, if ever, sting unless provoked, and that the best way of escaping from them when they are provoked is to retreat to a dark corner or the shade of a tree. Another is that when wasps are killed they should be killed outright and thrown away, for our own sakes as well as the wasps', lest the maimed creatures should revive and crawl up our clothes.

But if we look beyond the mere general resemblance, and examine closely the wasps which come under our notice, we shall find considerable differences among them. Let us over-haul the contents of one of those wasp-traps which are made-and I know of none more effectual-by putting one forcingglass inside another. First, there may be a good many insects like wasps and bees, which are only wasp- and bee-flies so-called, and not wasps at all. But of the wasps themselves. The several specimens probably differ much in size and form. There is the hornet, which has come to look after the wasps as much as the fruit, otherwise distinguishable by her brown colour, which is much larger than all the rest. Then the perfect females of the smaller species, the future queens, worth so much a-head to little gardenboys in spring and early summer, are much larger than the workers. And the long slight bodies of the drones, or male wasps, can scarcely fail to attract notice. It needs great faith in the statements of naturalists to handle one of these, in the assurance that the slight body and the long antennæ indicate the absence of a sting. But such, nevertheless, is the fact.

Now it is not a very agreeable occupation thus to turn over a heap of half-dead wasps, nor is it altogether safe, unless we look carefully about the while, and, applying to the business in hand the advice of a moralist* on another subject, "eye well those heroes who have held their heads above water, who have touched pitch and not been defiled." But in a little while we may satisfy ourselves, from the study of such a miscellaneous, unsavoury collection, that under the name of wasps are included individuals of very different sizes and forms.

We must not, however, invest every slight deviation from the normal standard, whether of size or colour, with specific importance. For the Hymenoptera are very liable to vary in size, more so than any other Order of insects. For instance, in the same wasp's-nest we may often trace a regular gradation of size from the queen-mother herself to the little cross wasps with their tattered wings which seem, like little old women, to have shrunk up with advancing days. And the same caution about not exalting slight differences into specific distinctions— reversing the terms of the proverb-must be observed with regard to the varieties of colour and marking. We cannot indeed observe too closely, but there is great danger of classifying too minutely. For, besides the broader shades of colour which distinguish a fair wasp from a dark beauty, the actual markings may differ in the inhabitants of the same nest within certain limits; and more widely still in specimens from different swarms of the same species. Vulcan's sea nymphs,

* Sir T. Browne, 'Christian Morals,' I, § 12.

Like

D

"Facies non omnibus una,

Nec diversa tamen: qualem decet esse sororum.

Distinctions of colour and markings, like the differences in the handles of our tools, in the labels on our books, or even in the blots of ink on their covers, are of value as affording a ready means of recognizing the different species at a glance. We see what wasp, or what book we have, at once, from the outside marks, without looking inside. They are of value when they have been shown to have a certain connection with the peculiar habits and internal structure of certain species, because they are more open to observation than these habits and structure. Their value diminishes in proportion as they are more difficult to observe, or less constant; till, though they are curious, and may have a local interest, they cease to be of any practical importance, as a means of classification.

Distinctions of this kind, to be of any use, should be very exactly laid down; and this must be my excuse for devoting so much space to what may appear a very trifling matter. With the help of drawings, or labelled specimens, the distinctions are easy enough to trace; but, without them, mere verbal descriptions are of little use. The parts which bear the characteristic markings are the clypeus; the neighbouring parts of the face, with the scape of the antennæ; the dorsal surface of the thorax at its posterior portion; and the dorsal surface of the first two or three abdominal rings. I propose to point out the characteristic marks which are to be found in each of these parts respectively in the several species,

*Ovid. Metam.' II, 13.

as briefly as may be consistent with practical use. And as we are anticipating their regular description, it may be necessary here to indicate what parts are meant by some of the different terms employed.

It is scarcely necessary to explain what is meant by the rings of the abdomen, the thorax, or the antennæ. But it is not as generally known, perhaps, that the scape of the antenna is the first joint, the handle, as it were, of the flail to which antennæ of this form are familiarly compared. The corona and clypeus are parts known only to entomologists by these names; the corona is the little yellow spot between the roots of the antennæ, and the clypeus is the broad yellow central patch which constitutes so large a portion of a wasp's face. The large compound eyes are indented by a deep notch behind the antennæ, dividing them into two portions which are technically called the upper and lower limbs. With this explanation, and by reference to the plates, there should be no difficulty in following the description of the several species.

Of these there are seven. V. crabro the great hornet stands alone. Three are tree-wasps, so-called from building by preference in trees or in the open air, namely, V. britannica, V. sylvestris, and the rare V. arborea. The three remaining species, which, as building by preference under ground, are called ground-wasps, are V. germanica, V. vulgaris, and V. rufa. Let us now proceed to examine each of these separately.

V. Crabro, Plate I, to commence with the hornet, differs from the rest in colour as well as size. The

predominating hue is brown, instead of black, and the markings are of an orange- rather than of the gamboge-yellow, which is the familiar livery of the smaller British wasps. The markings lose their special interest in the hornet, as her size and colour present distinctive characters more easy of recognition. But they are, nevertheless, worth attention, because the markings indicate the arrangement of parts within, and the larger size of this insect enables us readily to make out in her what we have some difficulty in tracing in the smaller species.

The antennæ are of a light brown, all the joints being of the same colour. Between them, and rising above the point of their origin, is a yellow patch, the corona, taking the form of the heart in playing cards. Below appears the large convex clypeus, longer from above downwards in proportion than in the smaller species; its uniform yellow surface occasionally broken by a single brown central spot. Below this the large mandibles meet in the mesial line, sometimes overlapping a good deal. Narrowing as they diverge from each other, they are articulated at the other end to the yellow horny rim, which surrounds the whole face, and gives a peculiar expression to the hornet. This margin does not appear in the smaller species because their eyes are larger and the clypeus is broader in proportion.

The markings of the thorax have more interest in an anatomical point of view than as furnishing specific characters. The distinctions in colour appear only as different shades of brown; but they bring out very plainly the position of the divisions of the thorax, which, indeed, are otherwise displayed very strongly