AN EVENING WITH THE HORNETS. 125 



decayed wood. If the hole in the tree is not 

 large enough the insects gnaw the sides of 

 the interior. The antenna of the male are 

 curiously notched on the outside. 



The children were playing under a large 

 elm on the lawn, when I noticed a number of 

 hornets busily at work on the interstices of 

 the bark, or flitting and buzzing round the 

 tree, and I got them away with all speed. We 

 napped one or two of the insects with a 

 board. Shortly afterwards, unnoticed by 

 anyone, Toddles, a three-year-old, started off 

 to the tree by himself, with his seaside 

 paddle, and banged away at the hornets, 

 shouting, " Me kill de nasty hornets, too !" 



I was terrified, but I scrambled up the little 

 bank at the foot of the tree, and carried the 

 child off with half-a-dozen hornets buzzing 

 round us ; being cowardly, they did not 

 venture to attack us. If they did but know 

 the immense power they wield, who could 

 withstand them? Certain it is that they 

 possess " a giant's strength," and it is credit- 

 able to them that they do not " use it like a 

 giant." Scripture tells us that the hornet was 

 employed "to drive out the Hivite, the Ca- 

 naanite, and the Hittite." I am not sure, after 

 all, that cowardice is the real cause of their 

 forbearance ; their dagger is their life. They 



