OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 4ll 
There is a remarkable hill on the downs near Lewes in Sussex, 
known by the name of Mount Carburn, which overlooks that town, 
and affords a most engaging prospect of all the country round, 
besides several views of the sea. On the very summit of this 
exatled promontory, and amidst the trenches of its Danish camp, 
there haunts a species of wild bee, making its nest in the chalky 
soil. When people approach the place, these insects begin to be 
alarmed, and, with a sharp and hostile sound, dash and strike 
round the heads and faces of intruders. I have often been inter- 
rupted myself while contemplating the grandeur of the scenery 
around me, and have thought myself in danger of being stung. 
WHITE. 
WASPS. 
Wasps abound in woody wild districts far from neighbourhoods ; 
they feed on flowers, and catch flies and caterpillars to carry to 
their young. Wasps make their nests with the raspings of sound 
timber ; hornets with what they gnaw from decayed : these particles 
of wood are kneaded up with a mixture of saliva from their bodies 
and moulded into combs. 
When there is no fruit in the gardens, wasps eat flies, and suck 
the honey from flowers, from ivy blossoms and umbellated plants : 
they carry off also flesh from butchers’ shambles.— WHITE. 
In the year 1775, wasps abounded so prodigiously in this neigh- 
bourhood, that in the month of August no less than seven or eight 
of their nests were ploughed up in one field: of which there were 
several instances, as I was informed. 
In the spring, about the beginning of April, a single wasp is some- 
times seen, which is of a larger size than usual ; this I imagine is 
the queen or female wasp, the mother of the future swarm. 
| MARKWICK. 
OESTRUS CURVICAUDA., 
This insect lays its nits or eggs on horses’ legs, flanks, &c., each 
on a single hair. The maggots, when hatched, do not enter the 
horses’ skins, but fall to the ground. It seems to abound most 
in moist, moorish places, though sometimes seen in the uplands.— 
WHITE. 
