WASPS WIRE WORM 395 



of rag in the fluid, and lay it over the entrance to the nest. There 

 is no occasion to run away ; not a Wasp will venture out, and those 

 which return from foraging will not lose their tempers and find yours, 

 but at each successive attempt to enter their home they will become 

 feebler, until they fall near or beneath the drugged rag. After an 

 hour or two the nest may be dug out, when every insect, including 

 queen and pupae, will be found dead. 



If the colonies lie without your frontier, or their positions cannot 

 be ascertained, the enemy must be disposed of by stratagem and in 

 detail. One of the best modes of trapping them is to put some in- 

 jured fruit beneath one of the trees, and over it a hand-light raised 

 about three inches above the ground by stones or pieces of wood 

 placed at the four corners. This light must have a rather large hole 

 at the top. Upon it should rest another light from which all means 

 of egress is prevented, except through the apex of the lower light. 

 After the Wasps -have visited the fruit, they will rise into the first 

 light, and gradually find their way through the opening into the upper 

 one, from which not one insect in a hundred will escape. In this 

 trap we have seen an enormous number of Wasps and Hornets which 

 had been allured into it within a few hours. 



WIREWORM is the most persistent and destructive of all the ground 

 vermin. There are fully a dozen species of beetles, the larvae of 

 which are known as ' Wireworms,' and of these the ' Spring-Jacks ' 

 and ' Click-Beetles ' and ' Blacksmiths ' Elater obscurus, E. lineatus, 

 and E. ruficaudis are the most prevalent, and demand the most 

 serious attention. The female beetle deposits her eggs in the earth 

 in the height of the summer, and in due time the worms emerge and 

 commence their depredations. These worms have a tenure of five 

 years in their subterranean homes, during which time they feed 

 voraciously and are not very particular as to what they eat, and are 

 well protected by their horny jackets and the muscular power which, 

 renders them expert in burrowing. When their term of five years' 

 feeding is completed, they descend to a considerable depth and 

 change into the chrysalis state, from which they come forth as jumping 

 beetles in the course of July and August, a certain proportion remain- 

 ing in the ground to complete their final change in spring. Now their 

 power to destroy is at an end. They resort to flowers, lead a merry 

 life for a short time, and when they pass away leave plenty of eggs 

 to continue the race of Wireworms. The history of the Meal 

 worm (Tenebrio molitor) does not greatly differ from that of the true 



