208 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE HORNET. 



THIS voracious and destructive insect was employed by Jehovah 

 for the purpose of driving the enemies of Israel from the land of 

 promise, Exod. xxiii. 38 ; Deut. vii. 20 ; Josh. xxiv. 12. Several 

 commentators understand these passages metaphorically, as denot- 

 ing the terror of the Lord, or some remarkable disease which he 

 commissioned to lay waste the country before the armies of Israel ; 

 from a conception that an insect of this description was altogether 

 inadequate to accomplish such a purpose. But we see no necessi- 

 ty to depart from the literal interpretation of the texts. The hor- 

 net, which belongs to the species Cra&ro, and is of the genus vespa 

 or wasp, is a most voracious insect, and is exceedingly strong for 

 its size, which is generally an inch long, though Dr. Clarke states 

 he has seen some an inch and a half long, and so strong, that hav- 

 ing caught one in a small pair of forpeps, it repeatedly escaped by 

 using violent contortions, so that at last he was obliged to abandon 

 all hope of securing it alive, which he wished to have done. How 

 distressing and destructive a multitude of these might be, says this 

 .eminent writer, any person may conjecture : even the bees of one 

 hive would be sufficient to sting a thousand men to madness ; but 

 how much worse must wasps and hornets be ! No armor, no wea- 

 pons, could avail against these. A few thousands of them would 

 be quite sufficient to throw the best disciplined army into confusion 

 and rout. 



But instances of whole nations being driven from their countries 

 by insects of different kinds, is attested by many ancient authors ; 

 and what is particularly applicable here is, that according to JElian, 

 the Phaselians, a people descended from the Canaanites, and who 

 dwelt about the mountains of Solyma, were driven out of their 

 AQuntry by wasps. 



