196 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
and made a noise which frightened the caterpillar, which came 
rushing out of the hole. It was immediately seized by the wasp, 
who finding it too large to carry off at once, cut it in two and 
went off with his game. I waited a little and saw the wasp 
come back for the other half, with which it also flew away. 
Again, Buchner (loc. cit p. 297) gives the following 
account in the words of his informant, Herr H. Lowenfels, 
who himself witnessed the incident : — 
I here found a robber- wasp busied in lifting from the ground 
a large fly which it had apparently killed. It succeeded indeed 
in its attempt, but had scarcely raised its prey a few inches above 
the ground when the wind caught the wings of the dead fly, 
and they began to act like a sail. The wasp was clearly unable 
to resist this action, and was blown a little distance in the 
direction of the wind, whereupon it let itself fall to the ground 
with its prize. It now made no more attempts to fly, but with 
eager industry pulled off with its teeth the fly’s wings which 
hindered it in its object. When this was quite done it seized 
the fly, which was heavier than itself, and flew off with it un- 
troubled on its journey through the air at a height of about five 
feet. 
Buchner also records the two following remarkable 
observations, which from being so similar corroborate one 
another. The first is received from Herr Albert Schliiter, 
who writing from Texas says that he there saw a cicada 
pursued by a large hornet, which threw itself upon its 
prey and seemed to sting it to death : — 
The murderer walked over its prey, which was considerably 
larger than itself, grasped its body with its feet, spread out its 
wings, and tried to fly away with it. Its strength was not 
sufficient, and after many efforts it gave up the attempt. Half 
a minute went by ; sitting astride on the corpse and motionless 
— only the wings occasionally jerking — it seems to reflect, and 
indeed not in vain. A mulberry tree stood close by, really only 
a trunk — for the top had been broken off, clearly by the last 
flood — of about ten or twelve feet high. The hornet saw this 
ti unk, dragged its prey toilsomely to the foot of it, and then up 
to the top. Arrived thereat, it rested for a moment, grasped 
its victim firmly, and flew off with it to the prairies. That which 
it was unable to raise off the ground it could now carry easily 
once high in the air. 
