A WO MEMORANDUM 01' OCTOBER.
[To TEE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR."] Si,—In these days of book-cramming, it is refreshing to meet with an original investigator naively unconscious of the limits of the range of his observation. Your correspondent "B." observed truly what is doubtless very interesting to him ; but his reflections reveal the danger of the common habit of general- ising on a small range of experience. First, as to wasps in London suburbs. "B." has "not seen one wasp in London suburbs this year." I have but a small suburban garden, yet it was alive with wasps in September, and I discovered two nests, —one in an old, rotten seat, and the other under the tiles of an out-building. Secondly, "B." went two hundred and fifty miles North, and there found wasps in abundance. Connecting this statement with a preceding remark on the extraordinarily high temperature of the summer, your correspondent seems to sug- gest that the heat drove the wasps North. But, Sir, I was travelling with a caravan in the South through Surrey, Sussex, and Hampshire, and no sooner was the cloth spread for an al- fresco meal, than dozens of the well-known insects swarmed up to share in the fray. Thirdly, "B." is surprised at what he calls the "will to sting" in the extracted weapon. Has he never heard of reflex action ? He admits that you must touch the sting to provoke the movement. That is no sign of "will," which implies originating power. It is really on a level with the rebound which his piece of india-rubber would make if he flung it on the floor. Lastly and chiefly, from a considerable ex- perience of the society of wasps, I must protest against the com- mon calumny, repeated by "B.," in the phrase, "a wasp-like angriness and eagerness to sting when touched." Wasps are friendly, sociable, inoffensive. If they are attacked, they defend themselves,—as who would not ? "Tread on a worm, and it will turn." The only difference between the wasp and the worm is, that the one is armed and the other unarmed,—i.e., the difference between an Irish and an English policeman.—I am, Sir, Sm.,
ROMaNY.
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