in] FOSSORES OR DIGGER-WASPS 27 



conveying her prey into the burrow: the majority 

 of the Fossors go backwards when dragging their 

 victim into the hole; but Oxybelm always goes in 

 head first, and instead of using jaws and legs to hold 

 her prey, she pierces it with her sting and so gains 

 a secure attachment. The paralysed fly is always 

 thrown on its back ; its head is directed in the same 

 way as the head and lies beneath the thorax of its 

 captor; its thorax underlies the abdomen, and its 

 abdomen projects out beyond the tail of the little 

 wasp. The sting is driven in on the underside of the 

 last part of the thorax. I am aware that this account 

 is at variance with that given by such careful ob- 

 servers as Mr and Mrs Peckham for 0. quadrinotatm. 

 But I have had 0. uniglumis and her attached prey 

 in a glass tube repeatedly, and examined the two 

 carefully with a strong magnifying glass, and am con- 

 vinced that though when on the wing the wasp holds 

 the fly with her legs, and it is noteworthy that the 

 adhesive pad (pulvilhis) between her claws is extra- 

 ordinarily large and presumably powerful, yet once 

 the coup de grdce has been administered, it is the 

 sting that keeps the hold. The following incident 

 confirms this view: during the brief absence of the 

 little wasp some sand had fallen across the mouth of 

 her burrow, so that there was more than usual to be 

 removed in order to clear the entrance: the wasp 

 scratched at the sand with her front legs for a few 



