128 INSECT LIFE 



am on the watch before the two clumps with their 

 countless lilac corollas. 



The air is perfectly still ; the sun burns, the air 

 is heavy — all signs of a coming storm ; but these are 

 conditions eminently favourable to the labours of the 

 Hymenoptera, which seem to foresee to-morrow's rain, 

 and redouble their activity in turning the present 

 hour to profit. The bees work ardently ; the 

 Eristalis fly clumsily from flower to flower. Now 

 and then, into the midst of the peaceable throng 

 who are swilling nectar, bursts a wasp, insect of 

 rapine, attracted there by prey, not honey. 



Equally ardent in carnage, but unequal in 

 strength, two species divide the chase ; the common 

 wasp, Vespa vulgaris, which catches Eristalis, and the 

 hornet, V. crabro, which hunts hive bees. Both carry 

 on the chase in the same way. They fly fast back- 

 wards and forwards over the flowers, and suddenly 

 throw themselves on the prey which is on its guard 

 and flies off, while their impulse carries them headfirst 

 against the deserted flower. Then the chase is con- 

 tinued in the air, just as a sparrowhawk hunts a 

 lark. But bee and Eristalis foil the wasp by their 

 sudden turns, and it goes back to fly above the 

 blossoms. By and by some insect less swift to 

 escape gets captured. The common wasp instantly 

 drops on the turf with its Eristalis, and I drop down 

 too at the same moment, putting aside with both 

 hands the dead leaves and bits of grass which might 

 hinder my seeing clearly, and this is the drama 

 which I behold, if proper precautions be taken not 

 to scare the wasp. 



First there is a wild struggle among the blades of 



