WASP PLAGUES 205 



There are various views of wasps' character. 

 Some say that wasps will not touch people who 

 leave them alone, others that they are of a perpetu- 

 ally angry temper and as ready to take offence as 

 a Corsican. Myself, I can say that I have never 

 been stung except when carrying out operations 

 of a distinctly provocative kind. Once a small 

 boy requested me to poke a fishing-rod into a 

 hole in the edge of a thatched roof because his 

 " ba' was stuck in it." The poke was administered, 

 the deceptive urchin ran away, and at the same 

 moment a swarm of wasps emerged and threw 

 themselves at the innocent disturber like angry 

 projectiles. Four stings on the face and two on 

 the hands made up the casualty list. But I have 

 never been stung when merely watching at close 

 enough quarters to hear the grinding of their 

 jaws. Nevertheless, the wasp is an animal to 

 be treated with respect, and she knows it" she," 

 for, as is the case with bees, only the female 

 carries a sting. 



The question is often asked why wasps are so 

 much more numerous in the autumn than at any 

 other time of the year, and the answer involves 

 some little knowledge of vespian economy. Of 

 the social wasps, only the fertilized female or 

 queen survives the winter. On the approach of 

 cold weather she seizes a fibre in some sheltered 

 nook, and, hanging by the jaw, sleeps the cold 

 months away. When aroused by returning 

 warmth, she begins at once to make a nest, under- 

 ground or suspended from a branch of a tree or 

 shrub, according to the species, the material being 



