On the occurrence of certain Insects, by James Hardy. 375 



early part of the year, by supplying a liberal amount of food, 

 would encourage their multiplication. I heard a good deal more 

 about them than I was witness to, and some of my correspond- 

 ents have supplied me with facts worthy of preservation, as 

 characteristic of the season. 



A field of corn on Middlestots farm could not be cut for some 

 time for wasp nests, whose inmates stung the horses when the 

 reaping-machine crossed them. Grapes at Kimmerghame had 

 to be preserved in bags to prevent their being pilfered by them. 

 In another locality they discovered a passage through the key -hole 

 into a closet where jelly was stored, and a constant stream of 

 robbers kept going and coming till the inlet was closed, Mr 

 Eobert Eenton, at Fans, thus writes of the hurtful insects of the 

 year : " Aphides were numerous till the cold rains in July, but 

 after that I did not think they were worse than ordinary. But 

 it was different with the wasps. One Saturday, August 2 1st, I 

 told the boys when they were at home from school, that I would 

 give them a penny for every wasp nest or ' bike ' they would 

 bring me. The number brought by sixteen boys was 37. The 

 heap looked like a cart-load. They were brought from rabbit- 

 holes, stone-dykes, and banks, and from hedges and trees where 

 they were suspended — in fact from every conceivable place. 

 When at Fairnalee in 1875, it was such another year for wasps. 

 In harvest when cutting the corn during the sunshine in the 

 park, we had to miss portions, that had to be cut in the morning 

 when the corn was damp. When attempted to be cut when the 

 insects were active, the horses got stung and became unmanage- 

 able. In the year 1 868 or 9 there was another outburst of wasps. 

 Are wasps rife every six years ?" 



Talking about them at Tyninghame, on Sept. 6, Mr Goodfellow, 

 gardener, Newbyth, said they were very numerous with him, 

 there having been no rain in winter to kill them. In spring 

 they frequented the laurel for some sweet exudation from two 

 glands situated at the base of the leaves. On one occasion he 

 found them usefully employed in cleaning a plant in the green- 

 house infested with scale. Leaves where Aphids abounded were 

 much attended by them. They killed large numbers of humble 

 bees. Some of the walks were quite strewed with the dead bees, 

 but they did not appear to eat them. Hundreds of wasps had 

 been slain to get rid of them. The nests were in all directions. 

 They were mostly of the common species. One gardener chanced 



