140 WASPS. 



of lesser females, under what circumstances the young of a nest 

 replacing a destroyed one may produce only drones, and really count- 

 less details besides, would be out of place here. Neither has it seemed 

 desirable to enter on the Wasp parasites, which play a helpful part in 

 keeping them in check, and especially the " Wasp-nest Beetle," as it 

 is sometimes called, the RhipiphorHS paradoxus, of which the larva 

 feeds on the young Wasp larva in its cell, and changes to beetle condi- 

 tion there, so that when in due course the Wasp should be expected to 

 come forth, instead there appears this singularly shaped beetle, with 

 its long compressed body, wing-cases shorter than the body, and 

 separated from each other at their pointed tips, and also not covering 

 the wings up to their extremities. These are, or were, formerly con- 

 sidered to be of rare occurrence, but where a Ground Wasps' nest had 

 from some cause or other passed the ordinary bounds of size, I found 

 them once in great numbers, and a few elsewhere. 



To some who are not called on to suffer in person or in pocket, — who 

 have leisure to sit quietly, so as not to "molest" the Wasps, and whose 

 daily bread does not depend on working, hot in person and hurried, 

 and irrespective of Wasp presence and convenience, or whose property 

 is made off with, and their staff of men and horses perilled, — it may 

 appear a proof of fine feeling to talk, or write, of the tender affection 

 of the Wasps for their young, and their ?(?zpaid labours. But to those 

 who are otherwise situated the case appears materially different, and I 

 should certainly say that where other means fail (in cases of great 

 infestation like that of last year, namely 1893) it is well worth while 

 to offer a bounty of a few pence per nest destroyed, which is a method 

 of prevention and remedy which often answers very much more 

 effectually than more elaborate arrangements. 



P.S. — In the course of conversation with Mr. G. H. Carpenter, 

 Consulting Entomologist of the Department of Agriculture of the 

 Royal Dublin Society, Kildare Street, Dublin, whilst the above pages 

 were going through press, he drew my attention to two females of the 

 rare Vesjja arhorea, of which species the presence had not been 

 previously recorded in Ireland, having been sent to him in the past 

 season, 1893. The specimens were amongst a number of female 

 Wasps captured in April and May by Mr. R. M. Barrington, near 

 Bray, Co. Wicklow, and forwarded by him to Mr. Carpenter. The 

 specimens were subsequently examined by Mr. E. Saunders, and con- 

 sidered by him to be "certainly " V. arhorea. For the above information, 

 with notes by Mr. Saunders, see also Ent. Mo. Mag. for July, 1893, 

 pp. 166, 167. 



