1897-98-] Wasps: Their Life-History and Habits. 351 



There are a great many other interesting things that could 

 be said about wasps, but I have already taxed your patience 

 too much. So just a few words more and I am done. It has 

 been suggested that I might say a little about the scarcity of 

 wasps as compared with twenty years ago. It is very doubt- 

 ful, however, that there are really fewer wasps now than 

 formerly. In the summer of 1893 a friend and I walked up 

 the road from near Little France to Craigmillar Castle, and 

 between where we turned up and the castle we saw six strong 

 wasps' nests, and that within half a mile. That does not 

 seem as if they were scarce. But the number of wasps varies 

 much according to weather. After a winter like the one we 

 have just had the wasps are likely to be scarce. The warmth 

 brings them from their winter bed ; then a few frosty nights 

 come, and having taken shelter in a damp or exposed place, it 

 is generally fatal to them. To study wasps, one must live in 

 the country among them. A visit to them now and again is 

 not enough : that will give but a very incorrect knowledge of 

 their life-history and habits. 



A few words in conclusion about how to trap or destroy 

 wasps may not be out of. place. There are many ways of 

 doing this. I shall speak of hanging nests first. Sometimes 

 a roll of paper is lighted and held under the nest until it is 

 all burnt ; but this method is rather cruel, as many of the 

 insects only have their wings singed, and crawl about for days 

 in that state. To suffocate them with the fumes of burning 

 sulphur is better, if carefully done ; but I think the quickest 

 and best plan is to take a 6 -inch or 7 -inch flower-pot, cork 

 the bottom hole, and fix a stick across near the top ; then 

 saturate a piece of wadding in a solution of cyanide of potassium, 

 and hang this over the stick, holding the pot under the nest 

 after the wasps are all in, when the job will be finished in 

 ten minutes. Ground nests are also best treated with cyanide 

 of potassium. Put a bit of wadding or rag with the cyanide 

 in the mouth of the hole — taking care not to close it up — some 

 time during the day : in the evening dig the wasps out, and 

 with a can of water mix the soil with the combs in a mortar, 

 and fill up the hole. If the combs were not thus broken up, 

 all the wasps would hatch out, and keep the colouy going. 



I have tried many other methods of destroying wasps' 

 nests, two of which I shall mention before I close. One is to 



