INTELLIGENCE OF WASPS l6l 



" I myself, being at Duckworth in Hun- 

 tingtonshire, my native soyi, I saw on a 

 time, a great Wasp or Hornet making after, 

 and fiercely pursuing a Sparrow in the 

 open street of the town." — The end was 

 tragic, as before, the wasp conquering, 

 and sucking the blood of the luckless bird. 



Mr. Belt tells a very interesting story of 

 the ingenuity of some social wasps he saw 

 trying to keep the ants away from honey 

 they themselves wanted. 



These ants were attending clusters of 

 frog-hoppers, little insects that exuded a 

 sweet liquid much relished by both ants 

 and wasps, and for the possession of which 

 a constant skirmishing was going on. 



" The wasps stroked the young hoppers, 

 and sipped up the honey when it was 

 exuded, just like the ants. When an ant 

 came up to a cluster of leaf-hoppers at- 

 tended by a wasp, the latter would not 

 attempt to grapple with its rival on the 



leaf, but would fly off and hover over the 



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