336 THE 4ZOOLOGIST. 
out, or being herself driven away by her. One frequent visitant 
was especially fierce, on one occasion making a most venomous 
rush after the intruder to some way beyond her preserve, and 
she then appeared to me to try and sting her, and possibly may 
have done so. The one thus used crawled for some time on the 
trunk in a way which seemed compatible with this view, and the 
day before 1 had observed another on a heap of potato-plants, on 
the ground, that for some while was unable to raise herself and 
fly to the tree. Possibly the sap on which she had been feeding ~ 
may have had a stupefying effect on her, but I have not seen 
other evidence of this. This ill-temper and intolerance cannot 
prevail in the nest, and, as hornets are not so very common, it 
seems likely that all those visiting this tree belong to the same 
community. If so, it would seem that the bond of sisterhood 
ceases beyond the city walls. 
July 12th.—Since the last entry I have made a daily visit to 
this tree, and it is curious that I have not again seen any well- 
marked case of a hornet being flown at in the way I have de- 
scribed, either by a Red Admiral or other butterfly, though there 
are as many here as before. As this kept on taking place on 
that day, over and over again, all the time I was there, within 
a few yards or even feet of me, and was plain beyond all possi- 
bility of mistake or misinterpretation, I do not know how to 
account for the difference, but with birds, too, I have constantly 
had the experience of one day being no criterion for others, so 
that caprice would seem to enter more into animal life than is 
generally imagined. Had I seen any butterfly suffer for its 
temerity, this change would have interested me, but I did not, 
and even, if I had, it could hardly pass for an explanation. 
Two butterflies—both, I think, Red Admirals—were displaced, 
by hornets, from their feast to-day, and certainly with much less 
ado, but this may have been mere accident. 
July 14th.—The hornets that I have hitherto been observing 
are of great size (though no doubt Crabro vulgaris), considerably 
over an inch in length—to judge without measuring—and bulky in 
proportion ; but to-day a much smaller kind, hardly half their 
weight I should think, yet identical, as far as I can see, in every 
other respect, have made their appearance. Yet even these look 
more than twice the bulk of an ordinary wasp—they are con- 
