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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
86
Another
and
another
of
these
friendly
meetings
between
them
and
other
wasps
took
place
in
the
half-hour
in
which
I
watched
the
sport.
There
were
lulls
in
hostilities,
during
which
an
atmosphere
of
perfect
peace
and
harmony
seemed
to
reign
around
my
bramble-bush.
The
flies
were
motionless
in
their
ecstasy,
and
the
hornet
element
seemed
by
common
consent
to
keep
temporarily
shady,
and
even
the
butterflies
seemed
to
forget
that
they
had
wings.
But
not
for
long,
for
now
with
a
shimmering
glitter
our
darning-needle
invades
the
scene,
and
retires
to
a
convenient
perch
with
a
ruby-eyed
fly
in
his
teeth,
while
a
swarm
of
very
startled
butterflies
tells
conspicuously
of
the
demoralization
which
he
has
left
in
his
path.
Among
the
butterfly
representatives
I
at
length
observed
one
individual
which
at
first
had
escaped
me,
an
exclusive
white
cabbage-butterfly
which
sipped
quietly
at
his
leaf
in
the
shade,
and
seemed
to
take
little
interest
in
the
disreputable
actions
of
his
associates.
Nothing
could
move
him
or
entice
him
away
from
his
convivial
employment.
But,
alas!
his
folly
soon
found
him
out,
for,
on
happening
to
look
again,
I
observed
he
had
found
a
new
acquaintance--a
hornet
that
had
evidently
been
long
desirous
of
meeting
him.
One
by
one
I
saw
my
butterfly's
dismembered
wings
fall
to
the
grassy
jungle
below,
while
a
big
black
wasp
proceeded
to
enjoy
the
collected
sweets
which
he
had
doubtless
observed
were
being
so
carefully
stored
away
there
in
the
shady
retreat.
And
now
my
pretty
black
butterfly--no,
it
proved
to
be
the
little
day-flying
grape-vine-moth,
the
eight-spotted
black
Alypia--appeared
from
some
unseen
source,
and
spun
his
crapy
white-streaked
halo
among
the
leaves,
at
length
settling
among
a
little
company
of
flies.
Softly
behind
him
creeps
a
brown
wasp
(Polistes),
with
his
mouth
watering,
while
from
the
opposite
quarter
a
steel-blue
mud-wasp
approaches,
with
apparently
similar
designs.
Neither
invader
sees
the
other.
Simultaneously,
as
though
answering
to
a
signal,
the
two
make
a
dash
at
the
moth;
but
he
is
too
quick
for
them.
In
a
twinkling
he
is
off
in
his
pretty
halo
again,
while
the
two
disappointed
contestants
have
clinched,
and
with
stings
and
jaws
vigorously
plying
fall
to
the
jungle
below,
and
seek
satisfaction
in
mortal
combat.
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