Social Wasps. 



401 



is that at this period the wasp is too busy catching Insects to serve as food for 

 the grubs to have much time for the indulgence of its own appetite for sweets, 

 though it does sip at the jam-chsh when it visits our breakfast table to steal shreds 

 of ham from our plates. We have little doubt that the grubs are fed entirely upon 

 an animal diet ; at midsummer flies are the chief item upon their menu. It 

 seems remarkable > -^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^m - ^^ 



that in an age when 

 great efforts are 

 being made to 

 minimize the pest 

 of flies, at least as 

 great endeavours 

 are made to destroy 

 the wasp, which is 

 the most eftectual 

 check upon the 

 multiplication of 

 the house-fly and 

 the bluebottle. 



If the fruit- 

 grower feels that he 

 ;;?z<s^ destroy wasps, 

 the most sensible 

 time for him to do 

 so is just before the 

 fruit has attained 

 sufficient sweetness 

 to attract them. To 

 kill them in spring 

 is to denv himself 

 the great advan- 

 tage of their whole- 

 sale destruction of 

 Insect pests. 



Certain of our 

 social wasps build 

 their paper cities in 

 trees and bushes ; 

 others chiefly in the 

 ground, but occa- 



sionall\' in trees and sheds. In the former group are included the tree-wasp, ^ the 

 Norwegian tree-wasp,- and the rare tree-wasp.=^ The second group contains the 

 two common wasps ^^ and the red-spotted wasp.^ The hornet, ^ our largest wasp, 

 prefers a hollovv' tree or the shelter of a house-roof. 



Mr. Chas. Oldham, F.L.S., at a recent meeting of the South London 



1 Vespa sylvestris. -\'. norvtu'ica. ^\'. arhorca. ^\' . vulgaris and V. germanica. ^\'. riifa. « V. crabro_ 



Photo by] i"- ^"••""'• 



The Queen on Her Comb. 



Tlir queen-wasp is the sole egg-laver in tlio couiniunity. .As soon as the workers have constructed a 

 new comb she goes over it and lays an ogg in each cell, gluing the egg to the cell-wall. The combs are 

 all horizontal, and the cells open downwards. 



