45 



aid she goes on enlarging the nest and laying more 

 and more eggs, until at the end of the season a nest 

 is said to contain as many as thirty thousand wasps. 



We have reason to be grateful to these insects, 

 because they feed upon flies, and immensely reduce 

 their numbers during the hot summer months. I 

 have often seen a wasp seize a housefly from the 

 window pane and make off with it ; they also pick 

 off the teasing flies from the cattle, and thus render 

 them valuable service. 



The wood wasp (Vespa sylvestris] forms beautiful 

 hanging nests in trees, where they look like grey 

 paper roses. These nests are made of the same 

 wood fibre masticated into extremely thin layers, 

 forming the outer case ; within are the brood cells, 

 and at the bottom an opening is left for ingress 

 and egress. 



Although so much dreaded by most people, the 

 wasp is really an inoffensive insect, rarely using its 

 sting unless it is provoked and ill-treated. I cannot 

 say as much for the honey-bee ; I have known one 

 to fly straight out of the hive and fix its sting in 

 some innocent passer-by, who had done nothing to 

 deserve such treatment. A bee will also pursue its 

 victim, as I have reason to know, with unrelenting 

 fury. 



In the days when I possessed an apiary, if an 

 ill-tempered bee set upon me, I found there was but 

 one thing that would baffle my enemy in its pursuit ; 

 it was somewhat ignominious, it is true, to have to 

 hide one's head in a bush and remain thus for four 

 or five minutes, but it always proved an effectual 

 defence ; the angry hum of the bee died away in the 

 distance, and one could at last emerge in safety. 



