NOTES BY THE WAY. 139 



My friend Van, who watched the hornets in my 

 absence, saw a fierce battle one day over the right of 

 possession of one of the dens. An angry, humming 

 sound was heard to proceed from one of the holes ; 

 gradually it approached the surface, until the hornets 

 emerged locked in each other's embrace, and rolled 

 down the little embankment, where the combat was 

 continued. Finally, one released his hold and took 

 up his position in the mouth of his den (of course I 

 should say she and her, as these were the queen hor- 

 nets), where she seemed to challenge her antagonist 

 to come on. The other one manoeuvred about a 

 while, but could not draw her enemy out of her 

 stronghold ; then she clambered up the bank and be- 

 gan to bite and tear off bits of grass and to loosen 

 gravel-stones arid earth, and roll them down into the 

 mouth of the disputed passage. This caused the be- 

 sieged hornet to withdraw farther into her hole, 

 when the other came down and thrust in her head, 

 but hesitated to enter. After more manoeuvring, 

 the aggressor withdrew, and began to bore a hole 

 about a foot from the one she had tried to possess 

 herself of by force. 



Besides the cicada, the sand hornet captures grass- 

 hoppers and other large insects. I have never met 

 with it before the present summer (1879), but this 

 year I have heard of its appearance at several point* 

 along the Hudson. 



