232 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
Berks,—I think. What I want to know is this,—Was it a 
hornet or a wasp? I ask this because I never yet saw a 
hornet’s nest in the ground, and never heard of an authentic 
instance of one being found in that situation. But then, on 
the other hand, I have never resided anywhere where hornets 
may be said to be very common; still I have known of some 
dozen nests within a radius of two miles, but none of them were 
in or very near the ground, but in roofs of cottages, outhouses, 
and in hollow. trees; and these are decidedly the favourite 
resorts. Perhaps, however, Mr. F. Smith, or some other 
Hymenopterist, will kindly say if lam wrong. Anyone would 
think that even a child, who had once had a hornet shown 
him, could never again confound it with a wasp, or vice versd ; 
but you would be surprised at the ignorance, in this matter, 
of many well-informed persons, who certainly ought to know 
a wasp from a hornet, there being quite as much difference in 
size as between a hive-bee and a humble-bee (Bombus 
terrestris). Some years ago my friend the late Mr. S&S. 
Stone, wrote to me to find out-some hornets’-nests, and I 
made several inquiries for him in the neighbourhood. One 
intelligent(?) keeper said that he did not then know of a 
hornet’s-nest, but he had seen dozens of them in previous 
years; and he perfectly remembered one very strong colony, 
that attacked everyone who passed near the nest, which, he 
said, was suspended from the under side of a jir-bough. 
This statement at once floored all my previous faith in his 
tales of hornets, their nests and stings; and he likewise told 
me that on another occasion one crawled into his boot and 
stung his foot. That the hornet could raise a colony from a 
nest suspended in the open air is a simple impossibility ; the 
first rough wind would blow its frail, but beautiful nest, 
constructed of rotten wood, to atoms. Even when taken for 
the cabinet it requires most careful handling, or it will 
crumble to pieces in the hand with only a very slight 
pressure. The sting of a bee or wasp has not the slightest 
effect on me, and yet I have a dread of being stung; but my 
youngest brother—who is very fond of bees, and can do 
almost anything with them—suffers severely if one stings 
him, causing him to turn purple all over, and with a dangerous 
swelling of the tongue; and yet the sting of a wasp has no ill 
effect upon him whatever.—Henry Reeks; Thruxton, Sep- 
tember 7, 1874. 
