400 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY CHAP, xxv 



they leave the nest, and discover what they do with the pellet of 

 earth they are often to be seen carrying out with them, and also 

 whither they go for food and drink. 



2. Destroy a colony of wasps by going out at night when all 

 the wasps are safely inside, and stuffing into the entry of the nest 

 rags soaked in potassium cyanide. Push the rags several inches 

 into the nest with a stick, and then further cover the entry with 

 a sack, on to which throw a few spadefuls of soil. Great care must 

 be taken that none of these rags are left exposed at the surface, for 

 potassium cyanide is a deadly poison. 



The next day remove the rags, and dig out the nest very 

 carefully, following down the tunnel from the entry until the nest 

 is disclosed. Most of the wasps will be found to be dead ; some 

 may be only stupefied, and these can be rapidly killed by dropping 

 them into a pot of paraffin and water. The pupae, however, in the 

 cells of the nest may still hatch out, and these and the larvae, 

 whether alive or dead, must be carefully removed from the cells if 

 it is desired to keep the nest. Its structure should be exposed by 

 removing the covering from one side, when a careful examination 

 of it can be made. 



3. From the specimens of larvae, pupae, and adult wasps removed 

 from the nest, the different stages should now be studied, 

 careful sketches being made of each, preparations of jaws, legs, 

 sting, etc., also being made for examination under the microscope. 



4. In the autumn, a queen wasp about to hibernate may be 

 caught, and if she is put into a box with a piece of muslin pinned 

 in an upper corner, she will fix herself to this with her jaws and 

 hibernate until March. 1 She may then be put into a large box, 

 in which an earth bank has been made, and if well fed with 

 honey, she may be induced to burrow in the bank, and to make 

 her nest there. She must, of course, be supplied with a piece of 

 well-seasoned wood from which to make "wasp-paper"; as soon 

 as she has begun to build she may be allowed free exit from the 

 box so that she may go out and find her own food. 



The gradual development of the nest will prove a most interest- 

 ing study, though eventually the colony may become so numerous 

 that the wasps become a pest. 



5. Be on the watch for solitary wasps ; study carefully any 

 you see, identifying them by reference to Hymenoptera Aculeata, 

 by E. Saunders. Read Wasps, Social and Solitary, by G. and E. 

 Peckham ; also Insect Life, by J. H. Fabre. 



1 Leaflet 10 of the School Nature Study Union, Some Insects and their 

 Habits, by C. E. Isaacson. 



