506 THB beb-kbbper's guidb ; 



As the solitary wasps are too few in numbers to do much 

 damage — even if they ever do any — any great damage which 

 may occur would doubtless come from the social paper-makers. 

 In this case, we have only to find the nests and apply the torch, 

 or hold the muzzle of a shot-gun to the nest and shoot. This 

 should be done at nightfall, when the wasps have all gathered 

 home. Let us not forget that the wasps do much good, and so 

 not practice wholesale slaughter unless we have strong evi- 

 dence against them. 



A BEB-MITB. 



It has long been known to chicken fanciers that our poul- 

 try often suffer serious injury from a small mite. These little 

 arachnids often enter houses in countless thousands, much to 

 the annoyance of the owners. Kerosene may be used to repel 

 them. Other mites attack the cow, the horse, the sheep, etc. 



Fig. 294. 



Mite. — Original. 



The Texas cattle-tick — Boophalus bovis — which so often wor- 

 ries horses and cattle, and which carries the minute protozoan 

 (Pyrosoma bigeminura) that causes the terrible Texas fever, is 

 a colossal mite. 



One spring a lady bee-keeper of Connecticut discovered 

 these mites in her hives while investigating to learn the cause 

 of their rapid depletion. She had noticed that the colonies 

 were greatly reduced in number of bees, and upon close obser- 

 vation she found that the diseased or failing colonies were 



