GENERAL PRACTICE. ENEMIES. 279 



Wasps. In the family Vespidse, to which wasps belong, the most formidable repre- 

 sentative is the Hornet (Yespa crabro). It is about twice the size of the ordinary wasp, 

 and a very beautiful insect. Hornets arc scarce north of the Humber, but have been 

 found at Thirsk. They build in high places, in church steeples, roofs of buildings, on 

 trees, and elsewhere. They feed largely on insects, but devour much fruit, having a 

 particular liking for choice pears, completely eating out the interior, leaving nothing but 

 a, hollow rind. Whilst hornets feed wasps stand aside. 



The Wood or Bush Wasp (Vespa sylvestris) builds nests under roof-eaves, or attached 

 to walls, trees, or bushes, and in some seasons very numerously. These much resemble 

 the Common Wasp (Vespa vulgaris), which forms a nest in the ground. Both species 

 are voracious, feeding on insects till the fruit ripens. Their partiality for ripe apricots 

 and plums is notorious, of gooseberries and grapes they leave nothing but skin, and spoil 

 the finest apples and choicest pears by eating holes into them. In houses wasps are a 

 dangerous nuisance, and in gardens and orchards a devastating plague. 



Prevention of the attacks of wasps on fruit is best effected by capturing and destroy- 

 ing the female or "queen "wasp in spring or early summer. This saves much after 

 trouble and loss of fruit. School-children encouraged with a trifle for every " mother " 

 wasp killed in April and May may be of substantial benefit. Some queens will, however, 

 always evade capture. Wasps travel great distances, but may be easily traced, for their 

 flight is, as near as possible, in a straight line from the fruit to the nest ; therefore they 

 are easily tracked to earth. Mark the nests by day with a peg split at the top and 

 white paper inserted in the slit, and at night pour from a pint to a quart of coal tar 

 through the spout of an old water-pot into the hole of each nest ; there will be a great 

 hubbub for a few seconds, followed by significant silence. Or a soda-water bottle three 

 parts filled with petroleum, the open neck forced tightly in for emptying the contents, 

 will destroy the nest. Spirit of turpentine may be used similarly. A piece of cloth fastened 

 to a stick, soaked in a saturated solution of cyanide of potassium, is immediate 

 death to all wasps within or returning to the nest. It is made thus: "Four parts of 

 cyanide of potassium are placed in a well-stoppered bottle, and a solution of 9 parts of 

 tartaric acid in 60 parts of water is added. The bottle is shaken several times, and set 

 aside in a cool place for twelve hours, at the expiry of which time the aqueous solution 

 of hydrocyanic acid, containing about 3-5 per cent., may be poured off from the solid 

 tartrate of potassium." (The Popular Encyclopaedia, vol. xi., page 349.) Dilute 

 aqueous solution of hydrocyanic acid of the pharmacopoeia contains about 2 per cent. 



