A Wasp’s Sting

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 81, 29 December 1934, Page 16

A Wasp’s Sting

J. DRUMMOND,

(By J

F.L.S.,

A WASP'S papery nest hanging on a barbwire fence in the Whangarei district attracted the attention of Mr. T. F. Jolly. In reply to a companion, he said that he wished to have It. His companion roiled up his sleeves, went up to the nest quietly, stroked the bottom and worked his way up to the top, the wasps crawling over his arm and then flying away. When the nest was completely vacated, Mr. Jolly’s friend snipped it off and handed it to him. The wasps did not sting, and did not seem to be in the least angry. The explanation offered to Mr. Jolly was that the wasps do not attack unless they experience a sudden fright, as when a. tree in which they had built a nest is felled. A Herekino resident told Mr. Jolly that he remembered wasps in his father’s orchard about 40 years ago. He was reprimanded for trying to smoke them out, his father saying that they destroyed the codlin moth. Mr. Jolly asks when this species of wasp came to New Zealand, and if it serves any useful purpose. It is an Australian, Polistes Tasmauiensis, plentiful in almost all parts of the Commonwealth. The species crossed the Tasman Sea more than 40 years ago. The first New Zealand record was from Rawene, Hokianga County, 41 years ago. Even at that time, it was a common insect in the Hokianga. district. The whole of North Auckland now is its domain, and it has spread all over Auckland Province and to Wellington, Taranaki, Wanganui, and Hawke’s Bay. Some North Auckland orchards are full of the paper nests, hanging downward. Each nest has many six-sided cells. Each cell receives an egg, and is the cradle of a young wasp. The young arc fed by "adults with chewed-up spiders, caterpillars, and grubs, with, perhaps, a little honey as a relish. In time, each young wasp spins a covering over the entrance to its cell, drops into a state of inertia, awakens into activity, and emerges as a perfect wasp, industrious and vibrant with energy, eager to take part in the serious business of life. ’ Polistes has a bad reputation in Australia. Mr. K. C. McKeown has found these wasps to be very pugnacious. When he approaches a nest, bvery wasp in it faces in his direction and seems to stand on tiptoes, as if ready to attack on the slightest provocation, sometimes without any provocation whatever. On this account, he has had a good deal of difficiilty in studying them, unless a nest is in a suitable site outside a window, with a pane of glass between him and them. In this case, he has

F.Z.S.,

for “The Dominion.”)

been fascinated by the study. Mr. Jolly’s experience is approached more closely by observations of a common English wasp, "Vespa, which belongs to the same family as • the Australian wasp. Of the English species, Dr. David Sharp wrote: “No insects are better known in our islands than these wasps, owing to the great, numbers of individuals in certain seasons, as web as to their often entering habitations and partaking of our food, and to the terror caused by their supposed ferocity and desire to sting. This las. idea is a complete mistake. Wasps never sting unless aroused to do so by attacks, or by considerable interference with their work. The only real danger arises from the fact that a wasp occasionally may be taken iiuo the mouth with fruit,' or may be handled unawares. When they are flying about they are perfectly harmless unless attacked or irritated. Even i they settle on a person, there is no danger of stings unless some movement is made. A person may station himself close to'a wasp’s nest and stay there without any risk whatever, if he makes no movement. It is more than probable that if there is no movement, or only gentle movement, the . wasps are unaware of an intruder’s presence. On the other hand, it is well known that if they are molested at their work, especially when they aVe actively engaged in the duties of the nests, they are very vindictive and follow for a considerable distance people who irritate them. An <ast Indian species of Vespa is particularly fierce when aroused. It has followed • a party through dense jungle for miles, and, it is reported, has stung animals to death.” “ . All the native wasps of New Zealand are solitary wasps, belon ß ng to the digging or burrowing .family. The best known is the mason-wasp. It makes clay cells, in which it places stupefied little spiders for the young wasps to feed up on when they are hatched from the eggs. Less known, but handsomer, is a bright, reddish-brown wasp, with orange wings, which hunts big spiders in gardens. Polistes is a member of the family of soc.al wasps These are communists, living in a kind of apartment dwellings, shared in common by all members of the community, but occupied for one season only. Robber-flies in Australia mimic wasps so skilfully that they, on the wing at least, may easily be mistaken for their betters. The Australian wasp is not much in favour in New Zealand. New Zealanders dis’ike it - but to its credit is the fact that it destroys many injurious insects, including the pear-leech, or slug-worm, whose young feed on pear, peach, cherry, plum, hawthorn, and other trees.