not sufficiently acquainted with her habits to describe them; above all, I
know nothing of her hunting-tactics. But her dwelling is familiar to me: it
is a burrow, which I have seen her begin, complete and close according to
the customary method of the Digger-wasps.


CHAPTER 2. THE SCOLIAE.

Were strength to take precedence over the other zoological attributes, the
Scoliae would hold a predominant place in the front rank of the Wasps. Some
of them may be compared in size with the little bird from the north, the
Golden-crested Wren, who comes to us at the time of the first autumn mists
and visits the rotten buds. The largest and most imposing of our sting-
bearers, the Carpenter-bee, the Bumble-bee, the Hornet, cut a poor figure
beside certain of the Scoliae. Of this group of giants my district
possesses the Garden Scolia (S. hortorum, VAN DER LIND), who is over an
inch and a half in length and measures four inches from tip to tip of her
outspread wings, and the Hemorrhoidal Scolia (S. haemorrhoidalis, VAN DER
LIND), who rivals the Garden Scolia in point of size and is distinguished
more particularly by the bundle of red hairs bristling at the tip of the
abdomen.

A black livery, with broad yellow patches; leathery wings, amber-coloured,
like the skin of an onion, and watered with purple reflections; thick,
knotted legs, covered with sharp hairs; a massive frame; a powerful head,
encased in a hard cranium; a stiff, clumsy gait; a low, short, silent
flight: this gives you a concise description of the female, who is strongly
equipped for her arduous task. The male, being a mere philanderer, sports a
more elegant pair of horns, is more daintily clad and has a more graceful
figure, without altogether losing the quality of robustness which is his