A noble Wasp. 167 



with the majority of the lower animals, both verte- 

 brate and insect is capable of a wrath exceeding 

 that of Achilles ; and yet the fact that a red rag 

 can manifestly have no associations, personal or 

 political, for the bull, shows how unintellectual 

 his anger must be. Another instance of mis- 

 directed anger in nature, not quite so familiar as 

 that of the bull and red rag, is used as an 

 illustration by one of the prophets : " My heritage 

 is unto me as a speckled bird; the birds round 

 about are against it." I have frequently seen the 

 birds of a thicket gather round some singularly 

 marked accidental visitor, and finally drive him 

 with great anger from the neighbourhood. Possibly 

 association comes in a little here, since any bird, 

 even a small one, strikingly coloured or marked, 

 might be looked on as a bird of prey. 



The flesh-fly laying its eggs on the carrion- 

 flower is only a striking instance of the mistakes 

 all instincts are liable to, never more markedly 

 than in the inherited tendency to fits of frenzied 

 excitement : the feeling is frequently excited by 

 the wrong object, and explodes at inopportune 

 moments. 



