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THE HORNET. ret 
wasps themselves, devouring the fruits above- 
mentioned, and also as voracious of the green, 
tender bark of the dahlia, as ants are of the 
juice of the yucca. They peel the young branches 
with their nippers or shears, as a rabbit peels a 
young tree; and wasps, and the great blue-bottle 
and other flies follow in their train, and suck its 
juice greedily. In common, too, with the wasps, 
which by their side appear very diminutive in- 
sects, they gorge themselves so with the pulp 
of fruit as to drop heavily on the earth on being 
suddenly disturbed, and are then easily destroyed. 
They frequently make their nests in the thatch 
of cottages and out-buildings, where it is difficult 
to destroy them, as in such situations neither 
fire, sulphur, nor gunpowder can be used, and 
producing large swarms there, they are dangerous 
and devouring neighbours. 
On Bookham Common, a pleasant wide tract, 
overgrown with trees, principally oaks, and re- 
sembling a forest with its fern and green turfy 
glades, much more than a common, we found 
two nests within a few yards of each other, in 
two hollow trees, where the sentinel, and indeed 
M 
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