196 ANIMAL INTELLiaENCE 



and made a noise which frightened the caterpillar, which came 

 rushing out of the hole. It was immediately seized by the wasp, 

 who finding it too large to carry off at once, cut it in two and 

 went off with his game. I waited a little and saw the wasp 

 come back for the other half, with which it also flew away. 



Again, Biichner (loc, cit, p. 297) gives the following 

 account in the words of his informant, Herr H. Lowenfels, 

 who himself witnessed the incident : — 



I here found a robber-wasp busied in lifting from the ground 

 a large fly which it had apparently killed. It succeeded indeed 

 in its al/tempt, but had scarcely raised its prey a few inches above 

 the ground when the wind caught the wings of the dead fly, 

 and they began to act like a sail. The wasp was clearly unable 

 to resist this action, and was blown a little distance in the 

 direction of the wind, whereupon it let itself fall to the ground 

 with its prize. It now made no more attempts to fly, but with 

 eager industry pulled off with its teeth the fly's wings which 

 hindered it in its object. When this was quite done it seized 

 the fly, which was heavier than itself, and flew off with it un- 

 troubled on its journey through the air at a height of about flve 

 feet. 



Biichner also records the two following remarkable 

 observations, which from being so similar corroborate one 

 another. The first is received from Herr Albert Schliiter, 

 who writing from Texas says that he there saw a cicada 

 pursued by a large hornet, which threw itself upon its 

 prey and seemed to sting it to death : — 



The murderer walked over its prey, which was considerably 

 larger than itself, grasped its body with its feet, spread out its 

 wings, and tried to fly away with it. Its strength was not 

 sufficient, and after many efforts it gave up the attempt. Half 

 a minute went by ; sitting astride on the corpse and motionless 

 — only the wings occasionally jerking — it seems to reflect, and 

 indeed not in vain. A mulberry tree stood close by, really only 

 a trunk — for the top had been broken off, clearly by the last 

 flood — of about ten or twelve feet high. The hornet saw this 

 trunk, dragged its prey toilsomely to the foot of it, and then up 

 to the top. Arrived thereat, it rested for a moment, grasped 

 its victim firmly, and flew off with it to the prairies. That which 

 it was unable to raise off the ground it could now carry easily 

 once high in the air. 



