INSECTS AND VERMES. 340 



approach the place, these insects begin to be alarmed, and 

 with a sharp and hostile sound, dash and strike round the 

 heads and faces of intruders. I have been often interrupted 

 myself while contemplating the grandeur of the scenery 

 around mo, and have thought myself in danger of being 

 stung. 



WASPS. 



WASPS abound in woody wild districts far from neighbour- 

 hoods ; they feed on ilowers, and catch flies and caterpillars 

 to carry to their young. Wasps make their nests with the 

 raspings of sound timber ; hornets, with what they gnaw 

 from decayed : these particles of wood are kneaded up with 

 a mixture of saliva from their bodies and moulded into combs. 

 When there is no fruit in the gardens, wasps eat flies, 

 and suck the honey from flowers, from ivy blossoms, and 

 umbellated plants : they carry off also flesh from butchers' 

 shambles. 1 



(ESTRUS CURVICAUDA. 



THIS insect lays its nits or eggs on horses' legs, flanks, &c., 

 each on a single hair. The maggots when hatched do not 

 enter the horses' skins, but fall to the ground. It seems to 

 abound most in moist moorish places, though sometimes 

 seen in the uplands. 2 



NOSE FLY. 



ABOUT the beginning of July, a species of fly (Musca) ob- 

 tains, which proves very tormenting to horses, trying still 

 to enter their nostrils and ears, and actually laying their 

 eggs in the latter of those organs, or perhaps in both. 

 When these abound, horses in woodland districts become 



1 In the year 1775 wasps abounded so prodigiously in this neigh- 

 bourhood, that, in the month of August, no less than seven or eight 

 nests were ploughed up in one field : of which there were several 

 instances, as I was informed. 



In the spring, about the beginning of April, a single wasp is some- 

 times seen, which is of a larger size than usual ; this I imagine is the 

 queen or female wasp, the mother of the future swarm. MARK. WICK. 



2 See Letter XXXIV. to Pennant, page 107, note 2. ED. 



