212 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



rim, but let one begin to suck and he was up in 

 arms in a moment. 



The question that occurred to me was : How 

 much of all this behaviour could be set down to 

 instinct and how much to intelligence and temper ? 

 The wasp certainly has a waspish disposition, a 

 quick resentment, and is most spiteful and tyran- 

 nical towards other inoffensive insects. He is a 

 slayer and devourer of them, too, as well as a 

 feeder with them on nectar and sweet juices ; but 

 when he kills, and when the solitary wasp paralyses 

 spiders, caterpillars, and various insects and stores 

 them in cells to provide a horrid food for the 

 grubs which will eventually hatch from the still 

 undeposited eggs, the wasp then acts automatically, 

 or by instinct, and is driven, as it were, by an 

 extraneous force. In a case like the one of the 

 wasp's behaviour on the pear, and in innumerable 

 other cases which one may read of or see for him- 

 self, there appears to be a good deal of the element 

 of mind. Doubtless it exists in all insects, but 

 differs in degree ; and some Orders appear to be 

 more intelligent than others. Thus, any person 

 accustomed to watch insects closely and note 

 their little acts would probably say that there is 

 less mind in the beetles and more in the Hymen- 

 optera than in other insects ; also that in the last- 

 named Order the wasps rank highest. 



The scene in the orchard also served to remind 

 me of a host of wasps, greatly varying in size, 

 colour, and habits, although in their tyrannical 



