152 MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



tawny-banded hoverers, making believe to be wasps for 

 their own protection as they scramble with almost 

 hysterical haste over the wide-spread blossoms, or 

 remain still as winged gems, while they suck deep 

 from the little honeyed tubes in the middle of a 

 chosen flower-head. For in all the daisy tribe the 

 insignificant little florets in the middle of each flower 

 are the important ones ; the outer-spreading rays of 

 colour that catch the eye are advertisements and 

 signboards. 



THE BLUNDERING WASP. 



But here comes a visitor with manners very 

 different from the hungry crowd to whose needs the 

 Michaelmas daisy caters for her own profit. At first 

 sight you might think that the wasp was drunk or 

 mad, for it bumps violently against one blossom after 

 another, banging about all over the clump, and 

 scattering the flies in all directions. But there is 

 method in its madness. It is out on a hunting ex- 

 pedition ; for the greedy grubs at home have reached 

 the age when they require animal food, and lots of 

 it. Flies especially suit their appetites, and the wasp 

 knows that Michaelmas daisy blossoms are favourite 

 haunts of flies. But the flies know something too, 

 and when they see a wasp approaching they do not 

 remain. So the wasp, whose sight is not very good 

 you may often see one flying bang against a white- 

 washed wall because it did not see that there was 

 anything there has to take the flies by surprise, and 

 it goes blundering about among the flowers, darting 

 first against one and then another, in the hope of 



