Insect trophies

Regarding the report and letter about Asian hornets [ FT353:10,

355:73], I would like to relate an experience I had in Oxford: in the early 1970s before Cornmarket Street was pedestrianised, I was waiting for a bus when I heard a loud buzzing and looked down. On the pavement by my feet was a wasp wrestling with a crane fly. As they rolled about, the wasp cut off the crane fly’s wings, legs and then its head, which it flew off with. This made quite an impression on me and for some time I tried unsuccessfully to find out whether this was common practice among wasps. Laurence Stockdale By email