BEES AND WASPS — GENERAL INTELLIGENCE . 195 
When an ant came lip to a cluster of leaf -hoppers attended by 
a wasp, the latter would not attempt to grapple with its rival 
on the leaf, but would fly off and hover over the ant ; then 
when its little foe was well exposed, it would dart at it and 
strike it to the ground. The action was so quick that I could 
not determine whether it struck with its fore-feet or its jaws ; 
but I think it was with the feet. I often saw a wasp trying to 
clear a leaf from ants that were already in full possession of a 
cluster of leaf-hoppers. It would sometimes have to strike 
three or four times at an ant before it made it quit its hold and 
fall. At other times one ant after the other would be struck 
off with great celerity and ease, and I fancied that some wasps 
were much cleverer than others. In those cases where it sue 
ceeded in clearing the leaf, it was never left long in peace ; for 
fresh relays of ants were continually arriving, and generally 
tired the wasp out. It would never wait for an ant to get near 
it, doubtless knowing well that if its little rival once fastened 
on its leg, it would be a diflic ult mat her to get rid of it again. 
If a wasp fii^st obtained possession, it was able to keep it ; for 
the first ants that came up were only pioneers, and by knocking 
these off, it prevented them from returning and scenting the 
trail to communicate the intelligence to others. 
Dr. Erasmus Darwin records an observation 6 Zoo- 
nomia,’ i., p. 183) which, from having since been so widely 
quoted, deserves to be called classical. He saw a wasp 
upon the ground endeavouring to remove a large fly which 
was too heavy for it to carry off. The wasp cut off the 
head and abdomen, and flew away with the thorax alone. 
The wind, however, catching the wings of this portion 
made it still too unwieldy for the wasp to guide. II 
therefore again alighted, and nipped off first one wing 
and then the other, when it was able to fly off with its 
booty without further difficulty. 
This observation has since been amply confirmed. I 
shall quote some of the confirmatory cases. 
Mr. E. S. Newall, F.E.S., in Nature , vol. xxi*, p. 494, 
says : — 
Many years ago I was examining an apple tree, when a wasp 
alighted on a leaf which formed a caterpillar’s nest neatly rolled 
up. The wasp examined both ends, and finding them closed, it 
soon clipped a hole in the leaf at one end of the nest about one- 
eighth of an inch in diameter. It then went to the other end 
