HOW TO KNOW THE INSECTS 



By JOHN J. WARD 



Author of "Life Histories of Familiar Plants," "Some Nature Biographies," etc. 



THE "WOOD WASP" AND SOME AUTUMN INSECTS 



With Photographs by the Author 



NOT long ago a shopkeeper of my 

 acquaintance sent an urgent mes- 

 sage for my assistance. On enter- 

 ing his shop in the morning he had found 

 it in possession of several " hornets " ; 

 how they got there he did not know, but 

 they were buzzing about the place in a 

 very alarming manner. The remarkable 

 part of the story was that, although he 

 had killed three that were fl>'ing in the 

 early morning, later in the day others 

 were still appearing, and he had arrived 

 at the conclusion that they must have a 

 nest somewhere in his shop. 



Now, a nest of hornets in a grocer's 

 shop is an aspect of insect life that calls 

 for immediate attention ; therefore I 

 proceeded at once to investigate the 

 matter. 



On my arrival the insects were very 

 hvely. They were buzzing noisily about 

 the shop, and the grocer was in a state of 

 panic. He was, therefore, considerably 

 astonished when I captured one of his 

 " hornets " from the window with my 

 bare hand. Only a glance was needed to 

 recognise the insects as the Giant Sirex, 

 or " Wood Wasp " {Sirex gigas), as it is 

 familiarly termed, an example of which 

 is shown in the first illustration. The 

 popular name is, however, misleading, as 

 the insect is not a wasp, but a Saw-fly. 



In some seasons these insects are very 

 abundant, and at such times I frequently 

 receive boxes labelled " Open with care. 

 Live Hornet," but almost invariably 

 these turn out to contain specimens of the 

 Giant Sirex. 



The black and yellow banded body and 

 yellow legs, together with its hornet-like 

 flight, doubtless account for the frequent 

 mistakes made with regard to this insect. 



The body of a hornet is much stouter than 

 that of the Giant Sirex, and its markings 

 are of a red-brown colour, not nearly so 

 \-ellow as those of the Sirex. On page 492 



THE GIANT SIREX, OR "WOOD WASP." 



some hornets are sIkjwii — the male upper- 

 most, the queen in the centre, and the 

 worker, or imperfect female, lowermost. 

 Only a glance at these insects is needed 

 to see how different they are from the 

 Sirex ; indeed, hornets are simply a 

 species of large wasp. 



The conspicuous " sting " (often an 

 inch in length), is not the least terrifying 

 part of the Sirex. In the illustration 



491 



