SOCIAL WASPS AND HORNTAILS 



8l 



with bold and vigorous flight and great buzzing, and 

 with so martial an air that it is not surprising that those 

 who do not know its real nature should be intimidated 

 by it. It is, however, a perfectly harmless creature. 



The other insect sometimes mistaken for a hornet 

 comes a little nearer the mark, for it is hymenopterous ; 

 but still it does not belong to that section of the order 

 which contains the wasps and other stinging insects. 

 It is closely related to the group of saw-flies, and is one 

 of the largest hymenopterous insects we possess. It is 

 a yellow and black 

 powerfully flying 

 creature, called 

 Sir ex gig as (Fig. 

 28) (the specific 

 name is given in 

 allusion to its 

 gigantic size), and 

 the female, which 

 is the sex most 

 often seen, pos- 

 sesses a long and 

 stout ovipositor, 

 which looks dan- 

 gerous enough, though it is simply a kind of auger, and 

 not a poisonous weapon at all, so that the insect, though 

 so formidable in appearance, is in reality harmless. 

 This great ovipositor has acquired for its possessor the 

 name of " Horn-tail." 



Both the above insects are yellow and black, and, as 

 we have already seen, the latter colour forms no part of 

 the ornamentation of a hornet; moreover, when one 

 comes to look at them closely, they are at once seen to 

 be altogether unlike wasps, though, of course, when they 



FIG. 28. Sirex gigas (female), natural size. 



