Entomological Science (2003) 6, 215–216 Correspondence: Dr Jun-ichi Kojima, Natural History Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Ibaraki University, Mito, 310-8512 Japan. Email: jkrte@mx.ibaraki.ac.jp Received 19 April 2003; accepted 21 May 2003. SHORT COMMUNICATION Subspecies of Vespa crabro in two different papers by Birula in 1925 Vladimir DUBATOLOV, 1 Jun-ichi KOJIMA, 3 James M. CARPENTER 4 and Aleksandr LVOVSKY 2 1 Siberian Zoological Museum, Institute of Animal Systematics and Ecology, Novosibirsk and 2 Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Science, St Petersburg, Russia; 3 Natural History Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Ibaraki University, Mito, Japan; and 4 Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA Birula published two papers dealing with vespine wasps in 1925. The first paper, Birula (1925a), appeared in the April–June issue of the Doklady Rossiiskoi Academii Nauk. The second paper, Birula (1925b), was published in Archiv für Naturgeschichte. Birula (1925b) was listed by Edwards (1994) and noted by authors such as Bequaert (1931) and Carpenter and Kojima (1997). However, Birula (1925a) has been overlooked by subse- quent workers. The present communication aims to clarify the status of the four new subspecific names contained in Birula (1925a). Birula (1925a) listed four subspecies of Vespa crabro with his authorship: V. c. vulgata, V. c. meridionalis, V. c. chinensis and V. c. nigra. The first three subspecies were described as ‘ssp. nova’ in Birula (1925b), and they have been attributed to Birula (1925b) (see Carpenter and Kojima 1997). Bequaert (1931) synonymized V. c. vulgata with V. c. germana Christ, 1791, and V. c. meridionalis with V. c. caspica Pérez, 1910, and replaced V. c. chinensis (non Vespa chinensis Fabricius, 1793) with V. c. birulai. Archer (1992), although in an ambiguous manner, synonymized all the subspecies so far proposed for Vespa crabro except V. c. nigra Birula under the nominate species. One of the authors (A. L.) recognized that the copy of the April–June issue of the Doklady Rossiiskoi Aka- demii Nauk housed in the library of the Zoological Institute, St Petersburg, has a note ‘Finished printing in July 1925 y.’ (in Russian) printed on the cover page, and this date is consistent with a note ‘Reported in Depart- ment of Physics and Mathematics on 6 May 1925’ (in Russian) printed after the title of Birula (1925a). On the title page of that number of the Archiv für Naturgeschechte (V. D. has a copy) in which Birula (1925b) was published, there is a note ‘Ausgegeben im Dezember 1925’ (Published in December 1925). J. M. C confirmed in the library of the American Museum of Natural History that ‘Dezember 1925’ is indeed printed on the wrapper of that number of the Archiv für Naturgeschechte. It therefore seems clear that the num- ber of the Doklady Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk in which Birula (1925a) appeared came out earlier than that number of the Archiv für Naturgeschechte for Birula (1925b). Birula (1925b) gives a note ‘St. Petersburg, 18. Okto- ber 1924’ at the end of that article, which could indicate the date of manuscript preparation or submission. Thus it seems likely that Birula (1925a) was based on the manuscript of Birula (1925b), which, however, was not published until December 1925. Birula (1925b) recorded five subspecies of V. crabro in Russia, all of which except V. c. altaica Pérez were mentioned in Birula (1925a), in which the color form occurring in the Urals and West Siberia, the localities listed for V. c. altaica in Birula (1925a), was instead denoted as ‘Vespa crabro nigra Bir.’ Such an inconsistency between the two articles published in 1925 could perhaps have been due to a change from ‘Vespa crabro nigra ssp. nova’ to ‘Vespa crabro altaica Pérez’ made in the proofs of Birula (1925b). Birula (1925a) did not list the specimens on which he based his description of the four subspecies of V. crabro. However, it is quite likely that the descriptions were based on the specimens listed in Birula (1925b). A. L.