An old Cherokee myths states that a long time ago the people of the old town of Kanu'ga`lâ'yï, on Nantahala river, were much annoyed by a great insect called U'la`gû', which was as big as a house and used to dart swiftly through the air to snatch up children from their play and carry them away. The hunters got together for the pursuit. They followed it along a ridge to the east until they saw the nest of the U'la`gû' in a large cave in the rocks. The great U'la`gû' was there, with thousands of smaller ones, that we now call yellow-jackets. The hunters built fires around the hole, so that the smoke filled the cave and smothered them, but others which were outside the cave were not killed, and these escaped and increased until now the yellow-jackets, which before were unknown, are all over the world.

Yellow jackets have black and yellow markings on their back. They live in colonies of up to 5,000 and are found mostly in North America. They nest in the ground and also above ground in cracks and crevices. If they are provoked, yellow jackets can bite and, or sting repeatedly.