3094 Entomological Society. 



thin brown paper, nearly egg-shaped, about three inches long, open at the bottom. 

 The comb was suspended by the integument on which the thread is tied. Tn about 

 thirty-five days from the time the second batch of eggs was laid, two young hornets 

 were hatched, and there were then about a dozen grubs of various sizes in the other 

 cells ; nearly all the cells had an egg or a grub (two or three remain now in different 

 stages of development) : only two or three more young ones were hatched, but the 

 queen mother, at different intervals, carried out at least a dozen live grubs* and 

 dropped them generally near the hive. The weather was showery and variable during 

 the whole summer here, a hill country, and the esprit de corps of the queen seemed to 

 be guided by the heat and cold ; in a hot sunny day (of which there were but few), 

 she seemed much more alive, and seldom remained absent more than from twenty to 

 twenty-five minutes, working until the clock struck nine at night; there was some- 

 times j ust light enough for her to find the hive.f I had not the least fear of her, and 

 used to sit within two yards of the hive she occupied ; my wife frequently was with me, 

 and was not the least afraid. 



" On some of the stormy days, the hornet frequently remained out for two and three 

 hours, and at one lime I fancied she had been destroyed, for I visited the hive two 

 days in July, nearly every hour, and remained waiting for a long time and never saw 

 her, but on one of these evenings she came in at nine o'clock quite exhausted, so 

 much so, that she fell short among some potatoes, and I was obliged to assist her to 

 the hive. The queen worked from the entrance made for the bees ; the young hornets 

 worked very little, went out very seldom, and after four were hatched two died. The 

 queen, in the beginning of September, became so weak that she used to fall two or 

 three times when she first went out ; so fearing she would be lost, I determined to 

 kill her and the only two young ones left alive ; these are the ones sent in the box. 

 I regret that the outer part, or round covering, was broken in endeavouring to cut 

 the nest from the crown of the hive with a pen-knife. The queen has shrunk in 

 size nearly one third, and about half an inch in length since her death ; her sting is 

 partly out. Hornets do not act offensively until they become numerous ; I frequently 

 turned up the hive when they were all in, and they generally attempted to escape, but 

 never to attack me ; plainly verifying the old saying, " certain persons are not so black 

 as they are painted." I assure you that my pet hornets caused a good deal of surprise 

 to some of my neighbours who saw them. 



" Hornets appear to be originally natives of a warmer climate than England ; in 

 Scotland none were ever seen alive, and I believe in the northern counties none are to 

 be seen ; they are not nearly so hardy as the wasps, nor are they of so predatory a 

 disposition. In 1848, when I lived at Thornbury Park, I had a strong hornet's nest 

 in the top of one of my hay-stacks, within seventy-five yards of my bees, the hornets 

 never attacked the bees nor even my wall-fruit, which was plentiful; my cows and 

 sheep used to be within five yards of the nest nearly every day, and they never were 

 stung. 



* I can only account for this by supposing that the want of sun prevented the 

 mother-hornet from finding sufficient food for the grubs. 



f Several times after nine o'clock she arrived, and it was so dark that T only knew 

 it by hearing her superb " boom" as she flew to the entrance : the hum of the hornet 

 is vi tv magnificent, it is quite peculiar and different from the large Apis teirestris 

 (queen), which is next to it in grandeur. 



