izo DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



over the table. They even caught the flies from 

 the back of my hand and lifted them gently from 

 the bald spot on my head. 



One hornet pounced upon a fly which was busy 

 rubbing its two front legs together, as it clung 

 with the other four to the fringe of the tablecloth. 

 Buzz as the hornet would, it could not carry away 

 that fly. It had gathered up some fibers of cloth 

 along with its prey and, of course, was unable to 

 pull the tablecloth along with it. 



As I sat laughing at its futile efforts I saw that 

 in its occasional pauses the hornet itself seemed to 

 have an idea as to what held the fly, for it would 

 nip off a fiber here and there, and try again. At 

 length, in despair, it ceased its efforts and devoured 

 the fly then and there. Afterwards it caught 

 another fly from the butter dish, and, with its last 

 victim in its claws and its first in its stomach, flew 

 triumphantly out of the window. There are many 



INSECTS WHICH WILL LIVE IN CONFINEMENT 



and make amusing pets, but the only people I 

 know of who make a practice of keeping insects 

 in confinement for this purpose are the Japanese. 

 However, there is no reason why we should not 

 derive a lot of enjoyment and entertainment from 

 captive native insects of our own country. There 

 are a number of crickets and grass-hoppers, beetles, 

 and aquatic insects which can be kept in confine- 

 ment with very little trouble. I once had 



