Volume 26, Plate XXVIII / Entomology (Insects)

Lecheguana (Polistes)

The Lecheguana, a honey-gathering Wasp of the genus Vespa, here placed under Polistes, inhabits Brazil and Paraguay, its existence first doubted but later confirmed by M. de St. Hilaire. It produces an excellent honey, stored in cells for the season of vegetable repose, differing from bee-honey only in being wholly soluble in alcohol leaving no residue; its conical nest is built, like the European Wasp’s, of woody fibres reduced to pulp, and the insect produces no wax.