242 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB, 



[ September 28, 1871. 



tainly not so markedly as are the hive bees. They will pounce 

 tipon bees oj all kinds, it is true, whenever they have a fancy 

 for so doing, and take their honey if they can get it. " This is 

 thieving ?" Well, of a sort, but we do not expect high morality 

 amongst the Vespine tribes. The gardener, as it seems to me, 

 is the individual who has most reason to inveigh against wasps 

 — more so than the fashionable lady in her drawing-room, or 

 the shopman behind his counter ; yet I have not noticed gar- 

 deners BO bitter against the wasp as they are against others of 

 their insect enemies. 



Just now in many districts wasps are numerous enough to 

 be troublesome, and they are fond of entering vineries and hot- 

 houses, as well as tolerably impartial in their attacks upon ripe 

 fruit out of doors. But if they do much mischief to fruit 

 under cover it is surely a good deal the fault of the gardener. 

 A friend remarked to me once, " I can't tell how it is ; other 

 people get back money they have lent, but whenever I do such 

 a thing I never get repaid." The answer naturally was, "The 

 remedy is simple — don't lend any more." So it is with regard 

 to hothouses : prevention is the plan to pursue. Keep the 

 wasps out, and they cannot do harm. Tolerate no broken nor 

 even badly cracked panes, and when the windows are neces- 

 sarily open cover with netting to exclude uninvited visitors. 



Some confusion of ideas will be found even amongst educated 

 people regarding the economy of the wasp. We have two 

 notable British species which particularly frequent gardens and 

 the abodes of men. The tree wasp (Vespa norwegiea, alias 

 britannica) is less common, at least in the south of England. 

 Mr. Harding, in " The Entomologist" of 1865, gives some ac- 

 count of the proceedings of a colony of this species which he 

 observed near Deal, in Kent, and I believe other instances of 

 its occurrence southward have been noted of late, but I have 

 no recollection of having seen this species or its nest since 

 insects have come under my observation. The nest in this 

 speciis is attached to a branch, and specimens of it may be 

 seen in various museums. Eennie thinks that this wasp has a 

 parlijular liking for the Silver Fir. The tree wasp is rather 

 larger than the better-known species ; in its habits and modes 

 of building it is similar to its relative, with the exception noted 

 as to the locality of the nest. Upon this, however, I am not 

 going to offer any further remarks, confining myself to the 

 common wasp, Vespa vulgaris. 



The nest of this species is almost invariably constructed in 

 the ground. Sometimes it may be excavated for the purpose, 

 if a tempting spot on a bank presents itself, but no doubt, 

 whenever possible, the queen wasp selects some hole already 

 existing which may suit her purpose, such as the deserted lair 

 of a rat or mouse. The survivors of the last season are often 

 seen in the spricg busily engaged in researches about the hedges 

 rows and fields. These are much larger than the ordinary 

 females, perhaps four times their bulk ; whether they can 

 sting with fourfold virulence I really cannot say. The ma- 

 terial of which the wasp's nest is constructed, and the fashion 

 of its cells, have been often described in books, and on these I 

 need not comment, but proceed to a few facts less generally 

 known. 



Mr. Holland, who watched carefully the proceedings of those 

 insects in the spring of 1865, observes that they are careful to 

 select wood of a soft fibrous texture. On a suitable tree queen 

 wasps may be seen settling in small parties during the first 

 warm days of spring. With their jaws, which are of great 

 power, they tear off fragments, which are thoroughly moist- 

 ened, and then rolled into balls. They invariably worked back- 

 wards. Another thing is curious— namely, that they bring 

 their materials to the spot where they are about to work, and 

 nsnally pile them up in a little heap, waiting until a certain 

 quantity has been accumulated. Great care is taken by the 

 wasps, in the successive enlargements which are needed from 

 time to time, that no earth shall be left in an insecure position, 

 and the walls are made of considerable thickness. Though 

 the cells are hexagonal, like those of the bee, they are placed 

 in a reverse position, with the open ends downwards, and not 

 horizontally. An egg is laid in each, but not at the bottom of 

 the cell ; it is situated at about one-third of the distance from 

 the base to the top. Now here is a strange problem. The 

 newly-hatched larva, which has no feet, and has not the agility 

 which some apodous larvse possess, does contrive somehow or 

 other to reach the bottom. " How ?" asks Mr. Murray, in one 

 of his contributions to the " Annals of Natural History." "It 

 cannot fall out of the egg-shell to reach it at one stroke, for the 

 cell is mouth down and the bottom is at the top ; it cannot fall 

 up ; it has, therefore, to work upwards. It is said by some the 



larva throws itself into a loop, and catching hold of the walls 

 of the cell with its teeth (jaws ?), then releasing the tail and 

 throwing another loop, fastening its tail again as a sucker, and 

 releasing its head, and so on, bya succession of sommersaults ; 

 but this to me seems impossible." However, the larva does 

 get to the bottom ; as to the question of its escape from the 

 egg-shell, it appears that the egg has no shell, or a mere mem- 

 brane, which is absorbed by the young larva. In this position 

 the nurse wasps supply it with food, vegetable or animal, duly 

 comminuted to suit the digestive organs of its immature con- 

 dition. When full grown the grub or larva of the wasp is plump, 

 rather unpleasant-looking, the head being black, and the interior 

 exhibiting itself partially through the transparent skin of the 

 back. Having finished eating it closes the opening of its cell 

 by means of a silken pad, and is torpid until it emerges from 

 the pupa stage a fully formed male or female wasp, to take itff 

 share in the duties cf the community, which are really observed 

 with commendable faithfulness and regularity. 



A friend was the other day adverting to the intense satisfac- 

 tion he had derived from reading an account of a parasite whick. 

 haunts the flea, and whose history verified the poetic statement 

 upon the subject, which he had always hitherto felt rather 

 incredulous about. It was such a comfort, he observed, to 

 believe that when a flea was nipping your leg it was exceed- 

 ingly probable that his leg, or some other portion of his exte- 

 rior, was also being operated upon ! Now those who are ene- 

 mies to the wasp will rejoice in the fact that it has a parasite, 

 which rejoices in the name of Ehipophorus paradoxus, and, it 

 is presumed, helps to keep the species from multiplying more- 

 rapidly. The conjectured history of this parasite is singular. 

 Mr. F. Smith, our great hymenopterist, has devoted much 

 attention to it, and from the observations communicated to 

 him by a friend, he maintains that the eggs are deposited by 

 the fly in the larva-cells of the wasp, and the larva feeds upon, 

 or, in fact, in most cases kills the nearly adult larva of the 

 wasp. I say in most cases, because Mr. Smith thinks that 

 sometimes this parasite does only partial injury to the wasp 

 grub, which becomes a pupa, though stunted. On the other- 

 hand, Mr. Murray believes that the supposed parasite only- 

 feeds upon the provision which is bestowed upon the young; 

 wasps by their foster-parents. It is seemingly a weak point in 

 Mr. Smith's theory that he regards the young parasitic larva 

 as the successful foe of the adult wasp larva, and it is certainly- 

 singular that it should be able to seize and devour one so much 

 superior to itself. " Who shall decide when doctors disagree ?'" 



Cncallia Verbasci. 



In some seasons, as shown by Professor Westwood, a disease 

 like that which occurs in apiaries, and which is called ionl 

 brood, destroys a large number of the young wasps ere they 

 have completed their transformations. Toads, as is proved, 

 devour bees without hesitation, yet it is thought they reject 

 wasps ; still the matter is dubious. Mcintosh recommends 

 the destruction of all nests in the radius of a mile from gardens 

 where wasps are troublesome. The position of the nests must 

 be ascertained by day with caution ; and at dusk you sally 

 forth, a deadly purpose in your heart, and with an uneasy ex- 

 pression of face, you fire a squib of gunpowder in the holes, or 

 thrust therein a pad of wool well moistened with turpentine. 

 Others recommend gas tar as efficacious. It is of great utility 

 to secure in spring the mothers of the coming race. This may 

 be done by a forcep net. Some authors assert that Hoya car- 

 nosa placed in the vicinity of fruit will draw all the wasps away 

 from it ; and as a more easily available expedient slices of boiled 

 carrot have been suggested. I have not seen these tested. 



Our figure exhibits an individual of the Lepidopterous order 

 —namely, the Mullein Shark (CucuUia Verbasci), the gaily 

 coloured caterpillars of which feed in small parties on the 

 Mullein, and occasionally on some species of Serophularia. 

 We show this, however, only for the sake of its relative the 

 Aster Shark (C. Asteris), which, though generally a rare insect. 



