In article , Andy Spragg
writes
"Essjay001" pushed briefly to the front of the
queue on Mon, 23 Jun 2003 04:30:14 +0000 (UTC), and nailed this to the
shed door:

^ OK so there I was sitting by the pond feeding the fish when this beast came
^ along and hovered in front of me. Having never seen one before I was
^ somewhat apprehensive. (Strange things with stings worry me). First off I
^ thought it looked like a very fat damsel fly, but in the time I had to look
^ at it (not very long) I noticed its abdomen was about the size of a 13 amp
^ fuse, tan in colour and furry. Very rapid wing movements. Not much to go on
^ I know but all I was thinking was 'if that thing has a sting I could get
^ hurt' any ideas?

A hornet?

Hornets have black and yellow striped bodies, not "tan". They're just
like wasps on steroids, but without the aggression!

What I'm not clear about is whether Essjay has looked at the picture of
a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, because what he is describing fits that fairly
well.

--
Malcolm