The hornet, alias the yellow jacket, has a bad name which she does not quite deserve. We use the expressions "mad as a hornet" and "stir up a hornet's nest" to describe human angers and tantrums. But the pretty hornet and her sisters do not usually attack us unless their papery nest with its helpless babies is threatened. What's more, these waspy insects devour flies and caterpillars which destroy our fruit crops.

When she feels threatened, however, the hornet is very ready to sting and the wound may hurt more and last longer than the sting of a bee. She is a pretty, striped insect with slim, gauzy wings and her stinging weapon is in the tail end of her slender body.