Descriptions of the British Wasps. By Frederick Smith, Esq., Curator to the Entomological Society.
The object of my present communication is to describe the different species of wasps (of the restricted genus Vespa) which have occurred in Great Britain; and more particularly to point out the true Vespa vulgaris of Linnæus. As my opinions on this point differ from those of many distinguished entomologists, besides being at variance with established notions of specific distinctions, I deem it necessary to enter into a detailed account of that species, and to give several figures of it, in order more clearly to explain its variations.
Huber observes there are two sorts of females in wasp communities. There are certainly two sizes of what 1 have regarded as neuters, the larger being much less numerous than the smaller; in a nest which I took the proportion was as one to thirty. Except in size they were similar: the larger ones may probably be the small females stated by Huber to lay only male eggs.
It is stated in Kirby and Spence's 'Introduction to Entomology,' that wasps have sentinels at the entrance of their nests; and that if these be destroyed, the communication is cut off between the wasps within and those without the nest. I was curious to try the experiment; but in several instances I could not detect any wasp apparently on duty: however, in Plumstead wood, last summer, I saw a wasp at the entrance of a nest, sometimes walking an inch or two from the hole, and then going a little further in. This I thought very like the actions of a sentinel; so I got a piece of paling, and watching my opportunity I suddenly pushed it in an oblique direction into the ground, so as to cut off effectually all communication. The sentinel flew at me, but I captured him in a little time, as he was most perseveringly charging and recharging upon me, and seemed determined either to conquer or die; the latter was his fate. When I returned to the nest, a number of wasps had collected, and they were in no way inclined to let me approach unheeded, but flew about me, to all appearance intent on revenge. Perhaps the supposed sentinel, in his wide circumvolations while attacking me, had communicated the alarm.
Sp. 1. Vespa Crabro, Linn.
It will be unnecessary for me to describe the hornet, that insect being so well known, and no difference of opinion existing as to its varieties constituting but a single species. I have not seen it in the north of England, nor heard of its occurring there; in the west, how-
m
