VESPA'S FOOD SUPPLY 63 



utes saw between three and four hundred 

 snatched off. 



It is to be hoped the cows were properly 

 grateful. 



In some parts of our own country, farm- 

 ers' wives are reported to have taken 

 advantage of the wasp's well-known fond- 

 ness for flies by hanging a wasp's-nest in 

 the house. Doubtless such a fly-trap, with 

 a little care and patience, would work 

 admirably, as wasps readily make friends 

 of people whom they are in the habit of 

 seeing close to their nests, and who do 

 not molest them. However, the present 

 writer does not seriously recommend the 

 practice as a substitute for window-screens 

 and fly-poison. 



No doubt the wasps do a great, 

 though unrecognised service, in keeping 

 the flies in check, as was once proved on 

 an estate in England, where all the female 

 wasps were hunted and killed one spring 

 before they had a chance to start their 



