SOLITARY BEES AND WASPS. 185 



It is curious how tame insects will become if 

 treated kindly. I used to know these little wasps 

 quite well, and if they came into the rooms, and 

 I found them on the window-panes they were 

 quite accustomed to be placed gently outside that 

 they might go on with their nests. A nephew of 

 mine who holds a position in some sugar works at 

 Cossipore in India, tells me in one of his letters 

 that the air in the factory is so filled with wasps 

 and hornets attracted there by the scent of the 

 sugar, that they constantly strike against his face 

 as he walked about. The workpeople and clerks 

 take all kinds of precautions against them, wearing 

 leather leggings over their trousers and beating 

 them off continually ; they get frightfully stung and 

 tormented all day long, whilst my nephew, who is 

 fond of all living things, takes no precautions at all, 

 has never injured the insects, and never once had a 

 sting from them. This shows that insects can dis- 

 criminate between friends and enemies. 



In my nephew's own house some wasps came in 

 and formed a nest in his dining-room on a wall 

 bracket within a foot or two of his usual seat at 

 dinner, and they too were perfectly friendly and 



