Bald-faced hornet hydrocarbons serve as a barrier to moisture diffusion and thus prevent dehydration in wasps. Cuticular hydrocarbon profiles vary over species and nests, and so cuticular hydrocarbons are a proposed mechanism for nest-mate recognition. Worker and queen cuticular lipids have similar components, but their distributions differ dramatically, implying that cuticular hydrocarbons also play a role in caste differentiation. The following lipid profiles were determined from specimens collected in the summer and early fall of northeastern Georgia in 1989. The dominant hydrocarbons recovered from the cuticles of workers were n-alkanes and methyl branched and dimethyl branched alkanes with a C27 or a
Hornet Squadron Hornet Squadron Hornet Squadron is the name of a fictional Royal Flying Corps, and later Royal Air Force, fighter squadron featured in a number of novels by British author Derek Robinson. Hornet Squadron first appeared in Robinson's 1983 novel "Piece of Cake", which spans the period from the start of the Second World War through the Battle of Britain. In 1988 Piece of Cake became a 6-part television mini-series. In the book the squadron flies the Hawker Hurricane while in the television series, the Supermarine Spitfire is flown. The next Hornet Squadron book was "War Story" (1987) set in 1916