H Y MEN OP TERA . 46 1 



forms a striking contrast with that of the honey bee, which is made 

 of wax instead of paper, and the cells of which are arranged verti- 

 cally in tiers two cells thick. 



Dr. Ormerod takes a great delight in wasps, which have been his 

 companions for many years. I have copied 

 one of his figures of the common wasp's 

 nest (fig. 1020), in preference to giving a 

 figure from one of the specimens in my 

 own collection. The late Dr. Henslow, the 

 learned Professor of Botany at Cambridge, 

 also delighted in the observation of these 

 creatures, and forwarded many remarkable 



. __ - _. Fig. 1020. — Wasp's Nest. 



specimens to the Kew Museum. 



Wasps, like all other hymenopterous insects, sting with an apparatus 

 placed at the tail (fig. 1019, d, e, /), while two-winged insects bite 

 with an apparatus situated at the mouth (fig. 1019, c). When any 

 person is stung by a wasp, we at once apply a drop or two of harts- 

 horn ; this is an infallible remedy, which immediately does its work. 

 For this reason no gardener should be without a bottle of ammonia, 

 or, as it is popularly called, hartshorn, during the fruit season. 

 Ammonia is equally effective if applied immediately to the stings of 

 bees, or to the bites of adders. Wasps sometimes attack the bee- 

 hives, which has been noticed by Shakspeare : — 



" Injurious wasps ! to feed on such •sweet honey, 

 And kill the bees, that yield it, with your stings." 



Hornets ( Vespa crabro) visit my garden, but I do not know where 



their nest is situated. They construct their nests in horizontal tiers, like 



wasps, and generally in the holes of trees. Hornets are larger, heavier, 



and more sluggish than wasps, and not so spiteful. On one occasion we 



had a hornet's nest in the eaves of a house in which we lived, but not a 



single inmate was stung ; on another occasion a nest existed opposite 



the front door ; and Dr. Ormerod mentions the case of a countrywoman 



who patronized hornets because they rid her room of flies, whilst she 



was confined to bed. The presence of a hornet in a room may always be 



