Bald-faced hornet Bald-faced hornet Dolichovespula maculata is a eusocial wasp of the cosmopolitan family Vespidae. Its colloquial names include the bald-faced hornet, bald hornet, white-faced hornet, white-tailed hornet, spruce wasp, blackjacket, and bull wasp. This species is a yellowjacket wasp, not a true hornet (genus "Vespa"). Colonies contain 400 to 700 workers, the largest recorded colony size in its genus, "Dolichovespula". It builds a characteristic large hanging paper nest up to 58 centimetres (23 in) in length. Workers aggressively defend their nest by repeatedly stinging invaders. "Dolichovespula maculata" is distributed throughout the United States and southern Canada, but is most common in
HMS Hornet (1794) was in company with when they captured the Spanish vessel "Aguilla". In August 1802 "Hornet" came under the command of Lieutenant Robert Tucker. Next month Commander Peter Hunt replaced Tucker. In June 1803, "Hornet" was in Commodore Samuel Hood's squadron at the capture of St. Lucia. The squadron, including "Hornet", went on to capture Tobago on 25 June. On 3 September "Hornet" captured a Dutch ship, whose name was not recorded, that was carrying 410 slaves. Then in September Hood went on to take the colonies of Demerara and Essequibo from the Batavian Republic. On 20 September "Hornet", the schooner