44G TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



good fer distemper, but I never tried it mj-self. Ther's 

 a sa}in' too, w'ich I larnt w'eii a boy that they 're 

 weather-wise and kin foretell w'at kind of a winter 

 we're goin' to hev. It runs this a-way : 



' If hornets build low, 

 Winter storms and snow ; 

 When hornets' nests hang high, 

 Winter mild and dr}'.' 



Howsomever, I reckon ther's not much in that fore- 

 cast, kase the varmint seem to take it pretty much as it 

 comes, some high, some low, in the sane season, I 

 don't count so much on them sort uv sayins as I used 

 to ; though insecks is powerful wise critters in many 

 things, I allow." 



"Are the hornets spoken of in Scripture (Josh., 24, 

 12, Dcut. 7, 20) the same insects as ours ?" asked Aunt 

 Hannah. 



" The Bible hornet is probably the common Euro- 

 pean species, Ycspa crahro. It is quite like our own 

 species in habits, but prefers to build in a hollow tree 

 or similar site. It has been naturalized in America, 

 and I have specimens of its combs from New Jersey. 

 But our evening is quite worn away, and we must close 

 this Conversation. Before we do so, however, I call 

 your attention to this pretty nest, which somewhat n - 

 sembles the hornet's. It is much smaller, being about 

 the size and shape of a Bartlett pear. I found this spe- 

 cimen in a low bush by the roadside just beyond our 

 farmhouse. Its chief peculiarity is this tube about half 

 an inch in diameter which forms the entrance or vesti- 



