IV. 



THE WASP INFESTATION OF 1893. 



By A. E. GiBBS, F.L.S., P.E.S. 



Bead at Watford, llth April, 1894. 



It is hardly right that the abundance of wasps in 1893 should 

 pass unnoticed by our Society. Both the tree- and ground-wasps 

 were particularly troublesome, invading our dinner-tables, stripping 

 our fruit trees, taking possession of the grocers' and confectioners' 

 shops, and indeed making thoii' unwelcome presence felt almost 

 everywhere. It is not my intention to enter upon any description 

 of our British Yespidse, nor to discuss their habits. This has been 

 done so admirably by Miss Ormerod in her ' Eeport on Injurious 

 Insects for the year 1893,' that little is left to be said. She has 

 gathered some valuable reports from various parts of the country, 

 which show how general the infestation was. I have simply 

 endeavoured to collect notes fi'om correspondents with regard to 

 the plague of wasps in our own coiinty. 



St. Alba>'s. — I had two nests in my garden wall at Avenue 

 House in such a position as to make it almost impossible to destroy 

 them. Mr. H. Lewis says: "Considerable damage was done by 

 the plague of wasps to our garden fruit last summer. Especially 

 was this the case with the Victoria plums. Those left on the trees 

 were quite spoilt, and when we attempted to gather the fruit we 

 found in many instances only the skins left ; the rest were in 

 nearly every case full of wasps. "When on a fishing expedition, 

 the wasps attacked the fish as soon as caught, and every few yards 

 along the river's bank wasps' nests were observed, although many 

 had been destroyed but a short time before. On relating this to 

 Mr. G. Dickinson, of Dyers Hall, Harlington, Beds, I found that 

 his experience was much the same. He told me of a friend whose 

 roach were attacked almost as soon as caught, and said that the 

 wasps will very soon eat away a hole in the fish." Miss Ormerod, 

 in her report, also gives some information with regard to the wasp- 

 plague at St. Albans. Mr. Nutting writes from the Gardens, 

 Childwickbury : "We suffered, as others did, more than usual last 

 year from the depredations of wasps, but I think not so much so as 

 those living on a lighter, warmer soil. I have invariably noticed 

 that the warmer the soil the more wasps there are. As we are on 

 a cold stiff clay, we are not so much troubled with them. With 

 regard to exceptional damage done, beyond the destruction of more 

 fruit than usual, especially plums, I do not think that I have any- 

 thing to report. We prevented them from getting into the vineries, 

 otherwise we should have sustained a loss there, as they seem to 

 be particularly fond of grapes. Next to grapes, plums seem to 

 be favoured by them, and the manner in which they work together 

 and clean out the fruit is interesting. They usually cut into the 

 fi'uit a short distance from the stem, on what might be termed the 



