On Mon, 19 Aug 1996, Paul Talbert wrote:

[snip..]

The whole experience enhanced my appreciation of wasps considerably!
>
Tweets--

Every late summer I've been in the San Juans, the yellow jackets
have been pesky..it seems to come earlier each year, and a number
of people have been stung..most notable recent tales are:
a woman who swallowed a wasp that crawled in her pop can..stung
her three times in the throat causing her throat to try and
close up...another woman, at my place on Lopez who picked up
a cup of juice and got stung on the tongue..a friend who came
to a wedding got stung on his ring finger, woke up the next day
with a black finger and blood poison going up his arm and had to
get his wedding band cut off..

The word from the natives is that this is a particularly bad
year. Many people are getting stung and it's a real test of
patience to try and eat anything outside, as you quickly have
a buzzing entourage.

My understanding of this behavior is that the wasps have lost
their power to digest their food because of their discontinuation
of the production of a necessary enzyme, and are, consequently,
ravenous and in very bad temper while they starve to death..

Anyone know if that's an accurate assessment?

Tom