A Plague of Insects. 209 



when the wasps have returned from their wanderings 

 and gone to rest for the night, because then the job can 

 be done with less danger of being stung by them. The 

 comb-gatherers universally assert that a single individual 

 of the hive, much larger than the common kind, and 

 which they call " the main wasp," is always found keep- 

 ing sentry at the entrance of their subterranean dwelling. 

 Despite severe frost, these yellow gentry are stiU active 

 among my pears, though not in such numbers as at an 

 earlier period. 



I do not remember an autumn in which the harvest 

 bug {Leptus autumnalis) has made itself more felt. Seen 

 it is not, or very rarely, since only sharp eyes, actually 

 searching for it, may detect its presence. When seen it 

 reminds one of a minute particle of Cayenne pepper more 

 than anything I can think of, for it is just the colour of 

 Chile Colorado. It is exceedingly like the chica of the 

 Mexican tropic-land, better known as the "jigger," — a 

 corrupted synonym of the West Indian negroes, — and it 

 is certainly the British representative of this dreaded 

 little beast. The jigger, however, usually confines its 

 attentions to the feet and toes, while the harvest bug 

 ranges higher, inserting its poisonous proboscis into the 

 ankles and legs, up to the hips. The inflammation pro- 

 duced by its bite, or sting, if not painful as that of the 

 wasp, is far more prolonged, lasting for days, and, alas ! 

 also nights, the victim of it often tossing to and fro for 

 hours on a sleepless bed. The torment is over now, with 

 the season for its activity; but many a skin will still show 

 purple spots — souvenirs of its baneful presence. Specially 

 affecting wooded districts, it is nowhere more plenteous 

 than on Wyeside. 



Just now another insect pest has replaced it, also of 



p 



