gling body is passive in her grasp,
subdued by the potent anaesthetic of her sting--a hypodermic injection
which instantly produces the semblance of death in its insect victim,
reducing all the vital functions to the point of dissolution, and then
holds them suspended--literally prolongs life, it would sometimes seem,
even beyond its normal duration--by a process which I might call ductile
equation. This chemical resource is common to all the hornets, whether
their victims be grasshoppers, spiders, cicadae, or caterpillars. In a
condition of helpless stupor they are lugged off to the respective dens
provided for them, and then, hermetically sealed on storage, are
preserved as fresh living food for the young hornet larva, which is left
in charge of them, and has a place waiting for them all. The
developments within my brush-handles may serve as a commentary on the
ways and transformations of the average hornet.

[Illustration]

One after another of the little green caterpillars is packed into the
bamboo cell, which is about an inch deep, and plugged with mud at the
base. From seven to ten of the victims are thus stored, after which the
little wasp deposits an egg among them, and seals the doorway with a
pellet of mud. The young larva, which soon hatches from this egg, finds
itself in a land of plenty, surrounded with living food, and, being
born hungry, he loses no time in making a meal from the nearest victim.
One after another of the caterpillars is devoured, until his larder,
nicely calculated to carry him to his full growth, is exhausted. Thus
the first stage is passed. The second stage is entered into within a few
hours, and is passed within a silken cocoon, with which the white grub
now surrounds itself, and with which, transformed to a pupa, it bides
its time for about three weeks, as I now recall, when--third stage--out
pops the mud cork, and the perfect wasp appears at the opening of the
cell. I have shown sections of one of my brushes in the three stages.

This interesting little hornet is a common summer species, known as the
solitary hornet--one of them--_Odynerus flavipes_. The insect is about a
half-inch in length, and to the careless observer might suggest a
yellow-jacket, though the yellow is here confined to two triangular
spots on the front of the thorax and three bands upon the abdomen.

Like the wren among birds, it is fond of building in holes, and will
generally obtain them ready-made if possible