NOTES BY THE WAY. 137 



this hornet carrying an insect much larger than him- 

 self, and flying with ease and swiftness. It was as if 

 a hawk should carry a hen, or an eagle a turkey. I 

 at once proceeded to dig for one of the hornets, and 

 after following his hole about three feet under the 

 foot-path and to the edge of the road-bed, succeeded 

 in capturing him, and recovering the cicada. The 

 hornet weighed fifteen grains, and the cicada nine- 

 teen ; but in bulk the cicada exceeded the hornet by 

 more than half. In color, the wings and thorax, or 

 waist, of the hornet, were a rich bronze ; the abdo- 

 men was black, with three irregular yellow bands; 

 the legs were large and powerful, especially the third, 

 or hindmost pair, which were much larger than the 

 others, and armed with many spurs and hooks. In 

 digging its hole the hornet has been seen at work 

 very early in the morning. It backed out with the 

 loosened material like any othe'r animal under the 

 same circumstances, holding and scraping back the dirt 

 with its legs. The preliminary prospecting upon the 

 foot-path, which I had observed, seems to have been 

 Ihe work of the males, as it was certainly of the 

 smaller hornets, and the object was doubtless to ex- 

 amine the ground, and ascertain if the place was 

 suitable for nesting. By digging two or three inches 

 through the hard, gravelly surface of the road, a fine 

 sandy loam was discovered, which seemed to suit ex- 

 actly, for in a few days the main shafts were all 

 itarted in the greensward, evidently upon the strength 

 tf the favorable report which the surveyors hatf 



