subject: The Stinging Sorority Sisters [print this page] I once knew a child of seven or eight to grab a big red hairy sand ant just as I had done long before; the youngster was eager to get the pretty thing for me. The little fellow's hand swelled greatly and there was a decided lethargy for a time, but within perhaps an hour it had passed away. I can hear the boy's howls yet and never can that child be induced to be an entomologist. The much-feared builder of the globular paper nest-the white-faced black hornet, Vespa maculata-has been too much publicized. It is a fighter, but not very poisonous. Who frequenting the out-of-doors has not encountered with considerable trepidation this warlike insect and felt its jealous stab? Every bit as ready to fight as the yellowjacket (I have had both attack when I came within three feet of their nests), the maculata is generally surer of its aim and swifter to thrust its discourager, thus too often constituting a temporary and local menace. Almost all other social hornets, wasps and bees take their time about striking; even the yellow-jacket will alight and crawl, looking for a favorable place to deliver its sting, but the black warrior strikes and thrusts at the same moment, making no mistake in landing on clothes or hats; she goes at once for bare skin or hair through which she can easily thrust her poniard. Too often she spots the eyes and drives for them. Incidents nearly always more amusing than serious attend the defense of Vespa maculata against its chief enemy, man. It is surprising what enmity is felt toward a creature that is merely defending its rights and also to what extent these little creatures and all the stinging sorority sisters are genuinely feared. I have seen a young soldier who would face bullets and the stones of rioters quail and retreat in haste before one small hornet no longer than the end of his little finger, when it was to his advantage to brave the insects in order to gain valuable time in an important undertaking. I have seen a pugilistic mixer flee before a few hornets as though sure death stalked in his tracks. The entomologist learns to regard these things more lightly because he has discovered that by deliberate motions and no act that could be construed by the colony as antagonistic he can approach and view their exterior goings and comings without danger. On top of the often-narrow prejudice and fear with which the stinging sorority is regarded it is refreshing to find incidents of the reverse. For though maculata may not often show herself a "friend of man" even though she "dwells by the side of the road" she really is very beneficial, just as is that other paper nest maker that builds without an external casing. For as catchers of flies and many other pests with which to feed her young these wasps are adept.
