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24-04-2003, 06:44 PM

In article ,
says...

"Drakanthus" wrote in message
...
I personally wouldn't have put the "even" in front of the hornets. They
don't occur where I live now, but when we lived further south we had
them in the garden. They're much more docile and less aggressive than
wasps - big stripey pussycats, in fact :-)

Malcolm

That's how I think of bumble bees. My wife runs a mile, but I think they
are sort
of "cute". I can be dead heading plants and they land in a flower next to
my
hand - they never seem the slightest bit interested in me so I leave them
to it.
Live and let live. Wasps on the other hand - its open warfare!

Bumble bees I remove from the house by closing my hand around them - since
they rarely sting and it doesn't hurt much if they do. Wasps I'll admit I
tend to flick with a fingernail and then flick them out the window - some
live, some don't. Hornets I remove using a glass and a piece of paper.
The same for honey bees, though often they can be directed with a hand wave
or too.

For those that want to try the experimental method of working out what you
have by how much the sting hurts - wasp stings hurt a little (rather more
than a nettle) and a bee sting hurts like hell and the sting is left behind
with the venom sack still pumping. Not sure what a hornet sting is like,
probably like a wasp.

Not strictly accurate as it can depend very much on the vulnerability of
the victim. Some people react very badly to wasp or bee stings as do
some people to Adder bites.
Rob