On the occurrence of certain Insects, by James Hardy. 377 



The queens are mostly found near a large hot-bed that we have, 

 also along the walls ; and later on they work on the bloom of a 

 kind of Mespilus, which is a sure find. The queens take up their 

 winter quarters in dry places, notably in crevices of wood about 

 old bridges, sheds or posts, and even under the sarking of open 

 roofed houses. Their nests are invariably found in dry warm 

 grassy banks, or the margins of walks, or in out-houses. Two 

 hundred nests were taken here last summer, and still the wasps 

 did not seem greatly diminished. Fruits of all sorts, especially 

 when getting ripe, if not protected soon vanished, particularly 

 those that possessed saccharine matter; but when other fruit 

 failed even apples were not safe. The rapidity with which news 

 get communicated among them is something wonderful. A single 

 wasp will be seen in the early morning in a house of grapes ; 

 shortly after it will be visited by two or three, which wiU be 

 augmented to myriads before the day's close, to the complete 

 destruction of the crop. Nothing seems to come amiss to them 

 in the way of food. Their tastes seems to comprehend everything 

 between the most offensive garbage and palatable fruits." 



At Ayton the wasps appeared to be more irritable than at 

 Tyninghame, for the workmen could scarcely get the fruit puUed 

 for getting themselves stung. 



In North Northumberland wasps " took possession of straw- 

 berry beds, defying eviction. A gentleman in the Cornhill dis- 

 trict took the trouble to count the number kiUed by an ordinary 

 glass trap. This was placed within a few yards of his front 

 door. The smallest 'bag' for one day was 195 ; the highest 

 1,262, and the total 5,273." A large number of nests were also 

 destroyed, but their numbers appeared to be undiminished. 

 (JBer. Adv., Aug. 27, 1880.) 



Mr. Alexander Shearer, late of Tester gardens, writes Oct. 7, 

 1880." The Pear trees on walls this year were attacked by a kind 

 of green, or rather brownish-yellow fly. The leaves were covered 

 by them, and were honey-dewed in consequence, which supplied 

 the bees and wasps with abundance of food at the time, which 

 was early in July. The wasps acted as scavengers and carried 

 away the flies. This season the wasps were a complete plague ; 

 there never were so many seen here." 



The "fly" on the pear trees at Yester is probably Psi/Ua Pyri, 

 L. In Germany, however, M. Eoerster describes other three 

 species that attack pear trees, viz. Ps. pyricola, Ps. apophila) of 



