Bald-faced hornet coloring differentiates it from its mostly black and yellow genus mates. Baldfaced hornets are distinguished from other yellowjackets by their white and black coloring. It has a white or "baldfaced" head, which is the source of its colloquial name. These wasps also have three white stripes at the end of their bodies. They are notably larger than other species of "Dolichovespula", as adults average about in length. Queen and worker wasps have similar morphologies. However, workers are covered by small hairs while the queen remains hairless. Queens are always larger than workers in their colonies, though size distributions can vary
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