OBSERVATIONS ON BUTTERFLIES ¢ HORNETS, 337 
siderably larger than a queen wasp. There was a good deal of 
antagonism between this smaller sort and the larger ones, and it 
seemed, at first, as if the new-comers were the bolder and more 
pugnacious of the two. They frequently flew at the other kind, 
and, being nimbler on the wing, teased and annoyed them a good 
deal—to the extent, indeed, that sometimes these large hornets 
were chased by the smaller ones, whom they seemed to fear, or, 
at least, to be glad to avoid. This, however, was in the air only. 
On the tree they gradually established themselves as predomi- 
nant, being able to expel undersized intruders on any coveted 
spot, whilst remaining there themselves, though often bothered 
by them. I believe these small hornets are more formidable to 
butterflies than the great ones. Several times they have darted 
angrily at them, when on, or hovering about, the place they wanted 
to come to, and once out of the corner of my eye I saw one fly 
from the tree, in a slanting line, to the ground, evidently borne 
down in some way which I could not distinguish. Almost im- 
mediately afterwards, however, as I turned and saw clearly, a 
Red Admiral butterfly struggled out of the grass, and the hornet 
rose, a second or two afterwards, from about the same place. I 
imagine that the hornet had seized the butterfly, and come down 
with it in this way, when the butterfly had managed to disengage 
itself and fly off uninjured—for I could detect no sign of injury. 
Otherwise the hornet, falling for some other reason which I can- 
not suggest, must, by coincidence, have pitched on, or almost on, 
a butterfly, in a not very usual place for one of the kind—in the 
midst of some tangled grass, that is to say. Yet it seems 
strange that, if this hornet had really a butterfly in its grasp, I 
should not have detected this, but only that (as I thought) it was 
hampered in some manner, and constrained to fall. But I was 
watching something else, and it was only, as I say, the merest 
glance out of the corner of my eye. As it was early in the day, 
and these small hornets were quick, brisk, and entirely sober in 
their movements, as was this particular one also after flying 
back to the tree, Iam sure that partial intoxication, produced by 
the sap it had drunk, had nothing to do with the incident. 
July 19th.—Yesterday, or the day before, I visited the tree 
again in a high wind, as also to-day, which is windy, too. Pos- 
sibly for this reason I saw no large hornet there on either occa- 
Zool. tth ser. vol. XII., September, 1908. 2D 
