OBSERVATIONS IN SCOTLAND. 



121 



year than usual in trees, chiefly Larch and Silver Fir, and many of 

 the nests of large size, and should you desire a specimen, I do not 

 think there would be much difficulty in procuring one." 



Dumbartonshire, N.B. — The following short note from Helens- 

 burgh, Dumbartonshire, N.B., sent me by Mr. Robert Howie, on the 

 15tli September, connects (like those of various other observers) a 

 somewhat greater amount of Wasp presence than usual in that neigh- 

 bourhood with the greater heat : — " As to Wasps, they are not at any 

 time plentiful here. I think, however, we have had more of them than 

 usual, although not by any means ' a plague.' I consider this quite 

 accounted for by the greater heat we have enjoyed this season." 



Argyllshire, N.B. — More westerly, that is, in the Island of Islay, 

 the Wasp presence was noticed as being much in excess of the usual 

 amount of appearance, though not in the vast numbers in which the 

 infestation occurred in many places. 



In reply to my enquiries, Mr. R. Scot Skirviug, of Foreland House, 

 Island of Islay, Argyllshire, writing on the 14th of September, men- 

 tioned : — " We have had no such plagues as I have read of in the 

 south of England"; . . . "but we have had our plague too. We 

 have had twenty or thirty Wasps at least for one we have had in 

 previous years. They invaded the house, and stung the ladies " ; . . . 

 *' they jump up and fight the Wasps with a pocket-handkerchief, and 

 so get stung." 



Mr. Scot Skirving further noticed : — " During July, the Oban 

 papers frequently referred to what they called the ' plague of Wasps all 

 over.' They mentioned Mull as swarming with them." . . . "I 

 think there is no difficulty in accounting for the great increase of 

 insect life in Britain, it is the great heat we have had." 



Relatively to his own observation of Tree-building Wasps, Mr. 

 Skirving wrote me that in East Lothian he thought they nested in 

 equal numbers in holes in the ground, and in trees; but that "at this 

 place " (i. e., the part of Islay under observation) he did not know of 

 Wasps having been observed to build on a tree or bush. Later on, he 

 kindly forwarded me the following letter on the subject, sent to him by 

 Mr. P. R. Ballingal, of Eallabus, also in the Island of Islay, N.B., 

 with the remark, that with him there were more woods and plantations 

 to draw observation from, as well as shrubs and bushes. 



Mr. Ballingal wrote as follows : — " Wasps. — This year they have 

 been much more numerous than I have ever seen them, yet with you I 

 would not say they have been a plague. The foresters told me early in the 

 season they never saw so many nests before ; and as to the garden 

 fruit, they helped themselves to the most of it. I am surprised to hear 

 you say you never saw a Wasps' byke in Islay ; here they are very 

 common, both in trees and ground" ; . . . " about the size of a man's 



