THE WASP A DANGEROUS ENEMY OF THE BEE. 297 



hive continues to be in general use, it is in vain to prescribe 

 the necessary remedies for many of the evils, which attend 

 the management of bees, as they cannot possibly be reduced 

 to practice on account of the insuperable obstacles, with 

 which the peculiar construction of the hive is attended. 



The wasp may be considered as one of the most redoubt- 

 able of all the enemies of the bees. According to several 

 writers, and especially Reaumur, it is asserted, that the wasps 

 not only devour the honey, but the bees themselves. From 

 our own experience, however, we cannot verify that state- 

 ment ; on the contrary, we never witnessed a wasp attempt 

 to enter a hive, and the bees attacked him, that he did 

 not exhibit the arrant coward, and hasten to save his life 

 by a precipitate retreat. Reaumur says, I have often seen 

 the hornets, and even the common wasps, that are not 

 larger than the bees, hover about a hive, and run about on 

 the pedestal for the purpose of espying the favourable 

 moment to pounce upon a laborious bee, returning 

 from the fields, fatigued and laden with pollen, and who 

 makes the most useless efforts to defend itself, for in a 

 moment it is killed. Sometimes the wasp flies away with 

 its prey, but at others it consumes it on the spot. I have 

 frequently seen the bees occupied on the flowers, gathering 

 their honey or farina, which have been seized upon by the 

 wasps and carried away*. 



The destruction of a wasps' nest is a task of no little 

 difficulty, and, therefore, we prefer in the months of February 

 and March to keep a strict look-out for the mother or queen 



* In a work entitled Tratado Breve de la Coltivacion y Cura de las Colmenas 

 #c. compuesto por Luys Mendez de Torres, A brief Treatise on the Man- 

 agement of Bees, by Louis Mendez be Torres, we find the following state- 

 ment relative to the wasp. " There is a great deal of cunning manifested by 

 the wasp in its attack upon the bee, for it is not the body of the bee, which 

 the wasp eats, but it bites that part nearest to the vesicle, in which the honey 

 is deposited, and having emptied it of its contents the wasp flies away to 

 attack another :" did this circumstance escape the notice of Mr. Reaumur? 







