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



to leave his grape house open, and it was cleared in twenty-four 

 hours. They are most eager on apricots, but owing to the down 

 do not attack peaches. If there is a dead bird within their 

 range, it will be nearly devoured by them. They do not sting 

 one, if they were driven away, unless when near their * bike.' 

 At Tyninghame I saw a large apple, not yet ripe, half -eaten by 

 them. The gardens there had been particularly liable to them, 

 as they had not been visited with rain of any continuance, 

 throughout the summer, and were parched with drought. Mr 

 Brotherston writes me : " The number of ' bikes ' was particularly 

 noticeable, for they were literally in every hole it was possible 

 for them to gain an entrance to. Gardeners in the neighbour- 

 hood destroyed the nests not by ones and twos but by the dozen. 

 They did not do much damage here, as indoor fruits were pro- 

 tected with hexagon netting, and outside fruit was gathered 

 mostly before it was mature. The apricots, however, were com- 

 pletely eaten up before they were anything like ripe. A very 

 noticeable ' trait in their character,' is their want of courage, or, 

 mildness of temper, perhaps would be a better definition. I be- 

 lieve I am correct in taking it to be a common opinion, that the 

 common wasp, is to be regarded as a ferocious creature, unsus- 

 ceptible of the fear of • man. But they are really quite the op- 

 posite. While working amongst the wall-trees, doing necessary 

 summer pruning and gathering fruit, I invariably found the 

 wasps to take to their wings, as if anxious to get out of the way. 

 Over and over again I have pulled fruits with wasps in them, 

 and turned them out with the tips of my fingers, without their 

 ever attempting to sting me. They will settle on the faces of 

 children when besmeared with jam, and will not hurt them. 

 Their voracity and wonderful appetite for all kinds of food that 

 came in their way was very noticeable. Dead rabbits and birds 

 were cleaned on the shortest notice. * Bumbees ' were not carried 

 to the nests, but eaten up where killed. Like bees, wasps are 

 children of the sun ; cold utterly puts a stop to their activity." 



Another sketch of wasp-life has been furnished by Mr John 

 Cairns of The Hirsel Gardens. " The most unobservant could 

 not fail to notice the unusual number of wasps last season. I 

 never remember seeing them so abundant. In spring we en- 

 courage the boys about the Gardens to kill as many * queens ' as 

 they can, allowing them a small remuneration ; and without much 

 effort, 300 queens, were this spring killed by two or three boys. 



