BEHAVIOR OF SPIDERS AND INSECTS OTHER THAN ANTS 415 



Rau (82) discovered a leaf-cutting bee, Megackile brevis, 

 carrying bits of leaves to a burrow on the southern end of one 

 of the ties of a railroad track. A passing train disturbed her and 

 she seemed to lose her bearings. She searched tie after tie, but 

 always on the southern end only. This caused Rau to conclude 

 that she used the ties as land-marks. 



In his studies of the breeding habits of Orthoptera, Turner 

 (111) states that excitement in the presence of the opposite 

 sex is not alone an indication of sex discrimination. ' In this 

 state of excitement males will seize other males, members of 

 other species, or even a stick to which the abdomen of a female 

 has been attached. On the other hand there is an entire lack 

 of anything that would indicate excitement in some forms." 



TECHNIQUE 



Packard (71) discusses methods of rearing the following para- 

 sites of the Hessian fly: Micromelus subapterus Riley, Eupelmus 

 allynii French, and Merisus destructor Say. 



Dow (26) describes a method of making plaster casts of insect 

 burrows that will interest all students of our subterranean fauna. 

 Mix equal parts of plaster of Paris and water and, by the aid of 

 a paper funnel, pour immediately into the burrow. Three 

 ounces of the mixture are required for Cincindcla, one and a 

 half for the pepo spider and seven to nine ounces for Colletes. 

 It is best to make the cast one week-end and to excavate it the 

 next. In excavating, dig a pit alongside, one foot from the 

 vertical and deeper than the bottom of the burrow. Then, with 

 a stout knife, begin at the bottom and work the dirt away from 

 the cast. If the bottom is not freed first the tube will break. 

 He finds that the species of the tiger beetle can be differentiated 

 by means of their burrows. 



REFERENCES 



1. Adams, C. C. An Ecological Study of Prairie and Forest Invertebrates. 



Bull. Illinois State Lab. of Nat. Hist., 11, 33-379. 



2. Allarp, H. A. The Synehronal Flashing of Fireflies. Science, 44, 710. 



3. Amans. Sur le Vol. les Cigales. Bull. Mensuel VAcademie des Sci. et Let. 



de Montpellier, 1915, 182-192. 



4. Ashworth, J. H. A Note on the Hibernation of Flies. The Scottish Nat., 



1916, 81-S4. 



5. Back and Pemberton. Effect of Cold Storage Temperature upon the Mediter- 



ranean Fruit Fly. The Amer. Jour, of Trop. Diseases and Preventative 

 Medicine, 1915, 5, 657-666. 



