A. E. GIBBS THE WASP INFESTATION OF 1893. 25 



and tearinjij open the body of its victim, devoured the greater 

 portion of it, leaving only the head, legs, and wings, and the shell 

 of its body. Once more I drove away the wasp, and buried the 

 remnants of its barbarous feast, but it again returned, and for some 

 time afterwards hovered about the Hower-bed, seeking the remains 

 of its prey." 



Smallford. — Mr. Arthur Smith writes: "I did not see any 

 tree-wasps' nests, but I took a large one from the inside of a 

 hollow tree. The greatest damage here was done to apples. In a 

 small orchard of about a dozen trees I should think there were 

 quite a dozen bushels of apples completely eaten, besides those 

 which were commenced, and thereby prevented from keeping. 

 With regard to plums I have to thank the wasps for teaching me 

 a " wrinkle " as to fi'uit-preservation. "VVe had the greater part of 

 the plums picked before they were anything like ripe, in the case 

 of greengages when they were just hard, before they were good 

 enough for wasps to eat, and bottled them, without cooking, by 

 merely pouring over them hot sp'up, and they have during the 

 winter turned out splendidly. Had these means not been adopted, 

 I do not suppose the wasps would have allowed one to ripen. "VVe 

 were fortunate to escape any attacks either upon man or beast, but 

 every nest was treated with a pint or so of gas-tar as soon as dis- 

 covered, a remedy, or rather destroyer, which we found both the 

 cheapest and most efficient. I am sorry I did not keep an account 

 of the number of nests destroyed." 



Hatfield. — Mr. T. Brown, of Symonds Hyde, Hatfield, informs 

 me that he destroyed a great number of nests during the season. 

 His method was to work at night by the aid of a lantern, when the 

 insects would fly to the light and not attack the person operating. 

 He recommends cyanide of potassium, and to use it effectually he 

 stops the entrance to the nest up, ascertains the exact position of the 

 nest, and makes a hole direct into it, through which he pours the 

 cyanide. The stragglers may be killed in the morning. Nests 

 should be destroyed early, before the colony gets strong. No 

 hanging nests were noticed. He found the wasps very troublesome 

 in destroying the frait crop. Three trees of Uuarrendon pippins, 

 an early sweet apple, were attacked first. The apples that fell 

 during the night had a place as big as the tip of the finger eaten in 

 them by six or seven o'clock in the morning, and during the day 

 the apple was almost entirely cleared out. Two hornets were 

 killed in the house. 



Welwyn. — Mr. T. B. Blow writes that his experience was as 

 follows ; — "Though we had a perfect plague of wasps, yet my bees 

 did not suffer at all. When the wasps appeared so plentifully we 

 narrowed all the entrances to the hives, and thus stopped any 

 attempt of the wasps to enter the hives. A large number of 

 wasps' nests were destroyed, and in this way the numbers were 

 rapidly diminished." 



HiTCHiN. — A most interesting report comes from Mr. Richard 

 Shillitoe, of Bancroft, Hitchin. It is as follows : — " The number 



