HORNETS : BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 383 
* Death through the Sting of a Hornet.—The deputy coroner 
for the Reading division of Berkshire has held an inquest 
at Mortimer, a village near Reading, touching: the death, 
under extraordinary circumstances, of Mrs. Sarah Merrett, a 
labourer’s wife. Deceased was standing in the road near her 
house, when a hornet flew out from a nest in the bank and 
stung her on the right side of her neck. She went indoors, 
and a neighbour bathed her neck with water and vinegar. 
However, she fainted almost immediately, and expired in a 
few minutes, before a medical man could reach the house. 
Mr. G. H. Davis, surgeon, stated at the inquest that he knew 
Mrs. Merrett as a nervous, excitable woman, and he believed 
the immediate cause of her death was syncope, the result of 
a nervous shock caused by the sting of the hornet. The 
jury returned a verdict in accordance with that opinion. 
Deceased was fifty years of age. 
“(This is one of the best authenticated instances of death 
from the sting of a hornet that I have ever met with, and I 
think admits of no doubt.)\—EpwaArD NEWMAN.” 
“ Death from the Sting of a Hornet.—Y ou certainly have some 
entomological readers in the neighbourhood of Reading. 
Could you not get them to investigate this case more 
thoroughly? Not that I think it at all impossible that a 
nervous, excitable person may die through the sting of a 
hornet, wasp, or bee; in fact, if I remember rightly, the Hon. 
Grantley F. Berkeley some few years ago recorded in the 
Field newspaper the death of an old man from the sting 
of a bee. This occurred in the garden of Mr. Lovegrove, 
Waldron, near Lambourne, Berks, I think. What I want to 
know is this—was it a hornet ora 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; 
and 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 hollow trees, and 
these are decidedly the favourite resorts. Perhaps, however, 
Mr. T. Smith, or some other hymenopterist, will kindly say 
if I am wrong. Any one 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 
