Maureen Murphy, age 10, of Pocra,  for her question:

What is a hornet?

A hornet is one of the waspiest of the wasp insects. Its sting is very severe and the bad tempered little creature is always ready to use it. This is why we have the expression "mad as a hornet". The European hornet is a large, handsome wasp with brown and yellow stripes. In America we have the yellow jacket hornet and the white faced, alias the bald face hornet.

Hornets are social insects and sometimes 10,000 of them live together in a colony ruled by a queen mother hornet. The nest is a beautiful structure made of paper   but stay away from it. Remember, it is guarded fiercely by a swarm of stinging insects   all mad as hornets