OBSERVATIONS IN ENGLAND. 



127 



or, to speak more assuredly, between one hundred and eighty and one 

 hundred and ninety. 



" I think about half were taken, or supposed to be completely 

 destroyed, by cyanide of potassium, mixed in the proportion of two 

 ounces of cyanide to a pint of water ; the others were destroyed by 

 pouring in gas-tar, or a sulphur mixture, as they used to do formerly. 

 My old gardener always used pieces of Elder tree, from which he had 

 abstracted the pith, and they were filled with a proper admixture of 

 brimstone, &c., but I have forgotten the proportion. They went off 

 like a squib. 



" My man who used the cyanide said it was wonderful to see the 

 instantaneous effect it had on the Wasps, and we found that the best 

 way was to give them some ; the next day to catch the stragglers that 

 had stayed out during the warm nights, and then dig them out, and 

 crush all the hatching and unhatched larvae. Indeed, even when using 

 the tar, digging out is requisite to make sure of destroying them. 



" I remember one case I had where the hole ran upwards, so I 

 stopped the entrance, and then got a pointed iron rod, six or seven 

 feet long, on which I put a piece of gas-pipe, about half the length or 

 less, and then running the rod carefully into the ground, I soon found 

 when I had come upon the nest. I then drew out the rod, and poured 

 in a quantity of gas-tar, which effectively did its work. 



" The cyanide process is very simple. We dip a piece of cotton 

 wool in the mixture, and put it upon a pointed stick, and push it pretty 

 well into the hole ; of course it needs to be in the hands of a trust- 

 worthy person, being such a violent imison. Hornets, I am happy to 

 say, I know nothing about, never having seen a Hornets' nest since 

 quite a boy." 



The above observations of numbers and treatment of Wasps' nests, 

 were taken from an area of somewhat less than six hundred acres of 

 ground, thus giving an average of somewhere about one Wasps' nest to 

 every three acres. 



From Canon Court, Wateringbury, Mr. Edward Goodwin gave me 

 the following observations, which note, amongst other points of interest 

 (more especially as coming from a Wasp and Bee observer), that queen 

 Wasps were not, so far as noticed, more observed than usual in the 

 spring ; also the greater strength of the nests, both in size and number 

 of tenants, and that the autumn disappearance commenced earlier 

 than usual in the season. 



Mr. Goodwin wrote: — "With regard to the so-called Wasp plague, 

 I send you the fohowing notes as the result of my own observations. 

 I believe there were not more queen Wasps in the spring than usual, 

 but the fine warm weather enabled a very large proportion of them to 

 establish nests before being destroyed by their various enemies. But 



