COMMON WASP. 255 



be the founders of the nests from whence come the 

 wasps of the succeeding summer. It is, consequently, 

 a great matter to destroy such as can be found at 

 this season. In general, however, we only meet 

 with one here and there. I was therefore surprized 

 by a relative of mine informing me, one year, that he 

 could obtain twenty a-day by beating a whitethorn 

 hedge near his house, on one side of which was 

 a pasture and on the other a road. This was in the 

 middle of May 1 842 ; and many of the wasps so 

 procured were submitted to my inspection, and 

 proved to be the females of the Vespa vulgaris and 

 the V. rufa, in about equal quantities. It was ob- 

 served that few could be obtained anywhere else, and 

 there seemed no peculiarity in the site or composi- 

 tion of the hedge to bring it into favour. Was this 

 an accidental circumstance ? or is it usual for these 

 queens to secrete themselves in hedges at this season 

 more than in other places ? If the latter, one would 

 think they might be obtained without much diffi- 

 culty and destroyed.* It may be noticed, that when 

 the above wasps were taken, the weather was 

 fine and seasonable, but without much rain, and 

 inclining to drought. The preceding winter had 



* Since writing the above, I find a note by Mr. Westwood, 

 which seems to throw some light on this circumstance. He 

 mentions his having " observed the excessive fondness of wasps 

 for honey-dew upon whitethorns in the spring;" and he has 

 suggested whether it might not be " advisable to watch situations 

 in which Aphides abounded at that time, in order to destroy the 

 queen-wasps attracted to such spots." See the Proceedings of 

 the Entomological Society, as reported in Ann. and Mag. of Nat. 

 Hist. vol. xvii. p. 66. 



