120 WASPS. 



together with requisite information as to habits, and means of preven- 

 tion of the pests by trapping, &c., or wholesale destruction of their 

 colonies, was given in my ' Seventeenth Report,' at pp. 111—140. 



Following on the " plague," as matter of course, was much popular 

 alarm as to a repetition of the trouble, notwithstanding the exceptionally 

 great Wasp presence being obviously accounted for by the exceptionally 

 suitable condition of weather in the early part of the year for propa- 

 gation, and with return of spring much appeared in the papers as to 

 numbers of Wasps captured here or there under influence of payments 

 at so much per Wasp or the quantity named. 



So far as first observations of Queens in natural circumstances 

 which were sent to me showed, they could not be said to be particularly 

 early or unusually numerous. About the first observation I received 

 was from Mr. H. L. Leonard, of Preston, Hull, who noted on the 2nd 

 of April : — " I saw a Queen Wasp to-day for the first time this year. 

 Considering the lovely weather which we have had throughout March, 

 I wonder I have not seen one earlier." 



Mr. J. Chambers writing from Toy's Hill, Brasted, Kent, on the 

 3rd of April, mentioned that a labourer in loading peat that had been 

 stacked last summer found four Queens (and killed them) in loading 

 one cartload from this stack on Brasted Chart, and also that the vicar 

 had given him one of three Queens caught on the previous Sunday in 

 the "iron-room." This specimen, which was sent to me, was a 

 Queen of the widely-distributed species V. germnnica. 



On the 10th of April, Mr. Edw. Goodwin, of Canon Court, Water- 

 ingbury, near Maidstone, remarked: — "Queen Wasps are about as 

 numerous as usual, and with the present favourable weather will 

 probably establish nests." 



In this house (Torrington House, St. Albans) a few Queens were 

 seen or killed from April 10th to 17th, but not more than four noted ; 

 the three of these which I examined were (respectively) F. vulgaris 

 and V. germanica. 



From Quinton Hous^; Stratford-on-Avon, Mr. T. C. Hiatt's notes 

 of the 2nd of May showed a troublesome amount of Hornets, but no 

 great number of Wasps : — " I put my dressed bottles (fuur in number) 

 out in April, and have caught twelve Queens in two already. Also a 

 lot of Hornets are about." — (T. C. H.) 



As the season advanced, a few notes were sent me of collection of 

 Queen Wasps being made ; but without information accompanying of 

 the extent of the area in which these were captured, or any data to 

 help towards comparison with amount of presence of Queens in 

 previous years, we learn little from the captures excepting that a 

 certain number of dead specimens of the pests have been submitted 

 for payment, and from the condition of some scores or hundreds which 



