METHODS OF TRAPPING. 273 



be more in form, but bee-dresses cost money, and are not 

 always easily procurable. 



It is necessary to have the hat with the brim of sufficient 

 width to keep the veil well off the face, and I preferred the 

 kind of patterned muslin or lace, as it is called, of which 

 window curtains are made, as the differences in thickness 

 prevented the first rush of all the Wasps in the nest striking 

 so audibly and directly at my hat. It may be that some 

 people would not mind it, but the first minute of work with 

 hundreds of enraged Wasps all endeavouring to sting was to 

 me always a time of intense nervousness, and I would not 

 advise anyone to try the experiment who cannot be thoroughly 

 trustworthily fastened up, or the results may be serious. 



For catcJiing JVas^ys, no plan seems to succeed better than 

 hanging bottles (as noted by observers) partly filled with a 

 mixture of beer and sugar. But where there are long ranges 

 of Peach walls, or walls with fruit such as the Wasps delight 

 in, I have seen glass-traps also answer very well indeed. 

 These were made by taking a common square hand-glass 

 with a pointed top, and a finger-hole just at the highest part. 

 This glass was set on four bricks, one beneath each corner, 

 so as to raise the glass by the depth of the brick from the 

 ground, not by the width, which would allow too much space. 

 On this lowest glass another is placed, taking care that any 

 opening round the edge, where the upper glass rests on the 

 lower one, is well closed with moss, and the finger-hole at 

 the top of the upper one {not of the lower one) also carefully 

 closed. 



All that is further needed is to throw some fruit, such as 

 the Wasps like, beneath the trap. The Wasps will go to it 

 readily through the opening between the glass and the 

 ground, but coming away is a very different matter. Then 

 they usually fly upwards, and, passing through the open 

 finger-hole into the upper glass, they are trapped, and perish. 

 I have seen a deep layer of flies and Wasps thus trapped, to 

 the great saving of the fruit on the adjacent trees. 



For jyrevention of entry of Wasps into vineries, though the 

 necessity of the matter is alluded to in the foregoing obser- 

 vations, no precise details have been given, I have known it 

 answer quite well to fasten muslin, such as old window- 

 curtains, to the edges of the lights and the framework to 

 which they fitted when the lights were closed. If this is 

 done carefully, there is little damage from the tacks (used to 

 fasten the muslin) to either the paint or wood-work, but care 

 must be taken to allow plenty of muslin, or the lights will 

 necessarily not open as wide as is needed. Also the muslin 

 must be so arranged as not to get in the way of the lights 



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