108 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ September 11, 1873. 



after day until her stock of eggs is exhausted or her strength 

 fails, and she herself becomes, perhaps, the prey of some 

 larger animal. I write in the feminine, as it is only the 

 female wasp that works thus for the next year's brood, the 

 male insect being distingiiished for no good quality that I am 

 aware of, and, hke other idlers of the insect races, it enjoys 

 but a short life. Both sexes are rather fly-like than wasp-like 

 in their appearance, the abdomen being lanky and the legs 

 long and slim. 



The boring operation is performed chiefly by the jaws of the 

 insect, the legs not having suflicient power to dig, though they 

 aid in scratching out the material that has been loosened. In 

 compact sandy soil it is often hard work, and yet such ground 

 suits the wasp's purpose better than that where the sand is too 

 loose and liable to fall in. Reaumur, in his observations upon 

 this or an allied species, ascertained that the wasps soften the 

 part of the bank on which they are engaged by letting drop 

 upon it some fluid from the mouth, and thus render the stufi 

 more workable. The chamber and passage having been com- 

 pleted, and the walls smoothed-off, the wasp deposits its egg, 

 and then darts away to obtain the first instalment of food. 

 This is a caterpillar, most usually of some moth or saw-fly, 

 though Rennie states that in the chambers he opened he found 

 larva» without visible feet, possibly of some fly or beetle. The 

 first deposit having been made, a second journey must be 

 undertaken, and with admirable precaution the wasp blocks 

 the door of the cell with pebbles or fragments ; it may be to 

 prevent the escape of the captive, and also to keep out in- 

 truders, such as the Cuckoo-fly, which might seek a rear- 

 ing-place for its own progeny in an abode it had not con- 

 structed. Also Reaumur thinks she does this to prevent the 

 heat of the sun hatching her egg too suddenly. At all events, 

 the opening and closing of the hole is done again and again 

 until the needful complement of lar^ ;i> is obtained — sometimes 

 as many as a dozen, occasionally only half that number. 

 These unfortunate individuals are immured much in the 

 fashion of human wretches in the hold of a slave ship of other 

 days, and thus " cabined, cribbed, confined," they wait in 

 darkness their turn to be eaten ! With what has been called 

 " cruel instinct " the wasp almost always selects larva; that 

 are full grown, and therefore so far plumped-up as not to be 

 likely to die of inanition. Of course, with regard to those 

 particular larva", as they are full-fed, it might seem that the 

 horticulturist was not much advantaged by their removal, and 

 j'et he is, in another aspect of it, since they would many of 

 them, if not removed by the wasp, appear as moths the follow- 

 ing spring. The young wasp-grub or larva emerging from the 

 eggshell soon begins to reduce the dimensions of the conve- 

 niently-placed coil of larvir, and being duly fattened (unless 

 some sly parasite has eaten out its vitals, which does occur 

 now and then), spins a cocoon, and by-and-by comes out as a 

 Sand-wasp in its turn. 



An amusing account has been published from the pen of 

 Mr. Vf. Hewitt concerning the doings of the Hairy Sand-wasp 

 (Ammophila viatica), a species that stores up spiders and not 

 caterpillars. Therefore it can hardly be reckoned as a " friend " 

 to the gardener, inasmuch as spiders, with very slight excep- 

 tion, are not among his foes — indeed, rather helpful to him. 

 In liveliness this wasp excels its relative, for we are told that 

 "these insects seem all velocity and fire. The spiders lie 

 under the leaves of plants, and in dens under the dry little 

 clods. Into all these places the Sand-wasp pops his head. 

 He bustles along here and there, flirting his wings and his 

 whole body. Ever and anon he crouches close among the 

 little clods, as a tiger would crouch for his prey. He seems to 

 be listening or smelling down into the earth, as if to discover 

 his prey by every sense which he possesses. 'When he finds 

 the spider he dispatches him in a moment, and seizing him 

 by the chest, commences dragging him oft' backwards." This 

 narrative has a tinge of the imaginative, yet it may be ac- 

 cepted as true in the main. Tripoxylon figalus, a smaller 

 wasp, of dark hue, and clad in silky down, is also a spider- 

 hunter, and this insect has been seen to seize with singular 

 dexterity a spider that was resting upon a web, and bear it off 

 without entangling its own wings. 



Carpenter-wasps there are also of the genus Tripoxylon, 

 which form their nests in the stems of rosaceous plants (see 

 figs. 1, 2, 3, and •!*) ; they may be detected on the Bramble 

 and wild or cultivated Rose. Tripoxylon (Odyuerus) alter- 



* For these illustrations, and that of the hornet's nest, -we are iudehtetl to 

 Messrs. Cassell's edition of Figniei-'s " Insect "World." 



natum is almost sure to manifest itself by the round hole left 

 at the end of the stem or branch. In this instance we have 

 several cells, not a soUtary one, and for each small grub there 

 is due provision made by the mother insect. As flies are 



Fig. 1. 

 A species of Tripoxylon. 



Nest of Tripoxylon in the stem of a Bramble. 



Fig. 3. 

 Lai'va of Tripoxylon. 



Fig. 4. 

 Pupa of 'Tripoxylon. 



selected, especially certain of those that are troublesome in 

 the orchard, we are gainers by the labours of this wasp. The 

 nest, or series of cells, is so planned that the new brood 

 emerges in the reverse order to that in which the eggs were 

 laid, so that the later-hatched are not interfered with by those 

 that are more forward. Other Carpenter-wasps perforate dry 

 posts, and, under an arrangement very similar, also kill and 

 lay-up flies. 



The Hornet (Vesper Crabro) is regarded with teiTor which 

 is almost ludicrous, and the statement is frequently repeated 

 that " three hornets can kill a horse." If such a thing could 

 be true, it is certain that the hornet is not accustomed to 

 attack the equine race, nor man, unless provoked thereto ; and, 

 what is rather comical, people sometimes rush ofi' in a fright 

 from a supposed hornet, when, in reality, the object they see 

 is most harmless, belonging to the Sphinx family, of which 

 some members have a close resemblance to bees and hornets. 

 Nearly related to the wasp, it is yet one of the most deter- 

 mined foes of that insect, though it will not disdain to touch 

 ripe fruit. The lesser species, agile, and provided with a sting 

 as it is, has no chance of making a successful resistance, and 

 is crauched up by the hornet much as a lion would seize a kid 

 — at least, not precisely so, since the hornet only sucks the 

 juices of wasps, and casts the carcasses away. The nest of the 

 hornet {fif/. 5), is rarely or never placed beneath the ground, 



ill 



IIITItii 



( ''i 



5.— Hanging Hornet's nest. 



the insect preferring to resort to rotten trees, which supply 

 material for the structure. This is generally coarse, and 

 swung from some secure point of suspension ; Reaumur ex- 

 hibits a figure of one looking like a pear in shape, with a 

 raised dome. That onr information about the habits of the 

 hornet is but scanty is quite explainable by the character of 

 the insect, which does not inrite intimacy. The old ladies of 



