338 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
sion, but only the much smaller kind. If the high wind has 
nothing to do with their absence, then I can think of no other 
cause for it except that the smaller hornets have driven the large 
ones away. 
I have noted, now, what I before had a hint of, namely, that 
these small hornets are amicable with one another. Several 
times two have fed together, and, on each occasion, | thought I 
saw them touch antenna, like ants, but whether they did this or 
not, there was an unmistakable little movement—a sort of start 
or thrill—of mutual recognition and tolerance, such as I have - 
never seen between the larger hornets, who uniformly drove one 
another away. It is true that one of the various pairs who 
thus, several times, fed together, never stayed more than a very 
short time (perhaps because the other had the best place), but 
there could be no doubt whatever as to the friendliness of their 
feelings, of which their close proximity alone—once almost, if 
not quite, touching—was a sufficient evidence. This is what one 
might expect with inmates of the same nest, but can all these 
large hornets be from different nests? It is too late in the year, 
I suppose, for them to be queens—as from their size one might 
almost imagine—and, even were it not, who would dream of 
seeing some six or eight hornet queens together? If then, as 
seems most probable, they represent but one nest in the neigh- 
bourhood, there is a marked difference, as between the two 
species, in the strength of the social tie which binds together the 
members of the same community. 
I saw several examples, this afternoon, of boldness in pater 
flies (Red Admirals and Large Tortoiseshells) with these smaller 
hornets. They advanced right up to them, on the tree, flapping 
their wings, with the idea, it seemed evident, of driving them 
away, and though they always, in the end, flew off themselves, 
yet evidently they had no precedent fear of these formidable 
insects. The theory of warning coloration certainly receives no 
illustration in their case. It also struck me that the Great 
Tortoiseshell butterfly, by closing—that is to say, putting up— 
its wings, so that only their dark under surfaces were visible, 
ceased to be noticed by the hornets, though there was little or no 
sign of its doing so, instinctively, in relation to such an end, 
when in proximity to any one of them. But the habit is a 
