Arthur Everett Shipley and George Herbert Carpenter

“ In an unobtrusive way weevils do immense harm to vegetation. This is effected not so much by their numbers and their powers of consumption, as amongst caterpillars, but by their habits of attacking the essential parts of a plant, and causing by their injuries the death of the plant affected. They destroy the young buds, shoots and fruits, and attack the young plants in their most delicate organs. ”

“ When the nuts are about half-grown, the female bores, with its rostrum, a minute hole in the still comparatively soft nut-shell, and deposits an egg within the nut. The egg is said to be pushed in by means of the long rostrum. As the nut grows the slight puncture becomes almost obliterated, so that it is unnoticed by all but the most observant eye. The larva is a thick white grub with a brownish head, bearing fleshy tubercles along its side. It feeds upon the substance of the nut. The nuts which are infested by this insect are usually the first to fall to the ground ”

“ The larvae of the syrphid flies Volucella, found in the nests of both wasps and bees, are now believed to be scavengers rather than parasites. In the tropics some species are attacked by fungi, the hyphae of which protrude between the segments of the abdomen, and give the wasp a very extraordinary appearance. ”

“ Over 400 species exist in Great Britain, few of which exceed half an inch in length. The genera Phyllobius and Polydrosus include some of the most beautiful insects found in Britain—their brilliancy, like that of the Lepidoptera, being due to the presence of microscopic scales. ”

“ The males and females are larger than the workers, and require larger cells for their development; these are usually kept apart from one another and from those of the workers. The males may be distinguished by their longer antennae, by the more elongated outline of their body, and by the absence of a sting.
In a favourable season, when the weather is warm and food plentiful, a nest may contain many thousands of cells full of wasps in various stages of development ”

“ The genus Odynerus contains a very large number of species, found in all parts of the world. The members of this genus are about the size of a fly, and they differ from Eumenes in having a sessile abdomen. Some of the species construct their cells in sand-heaps, lining them with agglutinated grains of sand; others live in cavities of trees lined with the same material, whilst others build their nests of mud. Like some of the species of Eumenes, they store up paralysed Lepidopterous and Chrysomeleous larvae as food for their carnivorous grubs. ”

“ They make their nest in cavities in the earth, generally in a bank and construct an irregular gallery leading down to it.
During hot fine summers wasps cause a good deal of loss to market gardeners and fruit growers. During this time of year they live almost exclusively upon the sweet juices of ripe fruit, occasionally carrying off small particles of the flesh. At the same time they have not entirely lost their carnivorous tastes, for they frequently attack the meat in butcher's shops, but render compensation by killing and carrying off to feed their grubs considerable numbers of blow-flies. ”

“ The larvae of some species are carnivorous, and then the food-supply stored up in the cell consists of caterpillars and other insect larvae which have been paralysed by the parent wasp stinging them through the cerebral ganglion ”

“ The larvae are suspended with the head downwards in the cells, and require a good deal of attention, being fed by their mother upon insects which are well chewed before they are given to the larvae, or upon honey. At the same time the mother is enlarging and deepening the cells in which they live, building new cells, and laying more eggs, which are usually suspended in the same angle of each cell. ”

“ As the nest increases in size, the covering needs to be repeatedly pulled to pieces and reconstructed, its inner layer being cut away as the combs are enlarged. The covering is pierced by apertures for the passage of the wasps. The cells are hexagonal at their mouths, but above become more rounded in their cross section.
During the first half of the summer workers only are produced, but, as fruit ripens and food becomes more abundant, fully developed females and males appear, the latter often from parthenogenetically developed eggs of the later broods of workers. ”

“ Internally the combs are arranged concentrically, more or less parallel with the external covering which affords them support.
The members of the two remaining families, the Eumenidae and the Masaridae, resemble one another in their solitary mode of life; only males and normal females, exist—no workers being found.
Family 2. Eumenidae.—Solitary species, with three submarginal cells in the fore wing; antennae with thirteen joints in the male, twelve in the female; abdomen sometimes pedunculate, posterior segments contractile. ”

“ The pro-thorax is oval, and its sides are prolonged backward to the base of the wings. The fore wing has two or three submarginal cells. The legs are not provided with any adaptations for collecting pollen. The abdomen is sometimes pedunculate, its second (apparently first) segment being drawn out into a long stalk, which connects it with the alitrunk, made up of the thorax and the first abdominal segment. The queens and the workers are armed with a powerful sting. The usual colour of these insects is black, relieved to a greater or less degree by spots and patches of yellow or buff. ”

“ They have a more distinctly red colour than the common wasp, and a row of red spots upon each side of the abdomen. They occur much more rarely than the common wasp, and appear to be almost confined to the southern half of England. Their nests resemble those described above, but are larger; they are found in hollow trees or deserted out-houses. ”

“ The grubs are apodal, thicker in the middle than at either end; the mandibles bear three teeth; the maxillae and labium are represented by fleshy tubercles. The body, exclusive of the head, consists of thirteen segments, which bear lateral tubercles and spiracles. ”