A WASP THAT PROVISIONS ITS NEST WITH QUEEN ANTS 383 



and some of them fresh, but all quite dead. We have no doubt 

 that' punctatus completely provisions one pocket and closes the 

 opening from it into the gallery, before she starts another, 

 making a series of six or eight independent cells. , The provision 

 for one larva is probably 12 or 14 bees, the capture of which, 

 in good weather, would be a fair day's work." Me lander and 

 Brues (1903) have seen this same species of Philanthus nesting 

 in the midst of colonies of Halictus pruinosus Roberts, and 

 ruthlessly preying on the bees. 



We are also in possession of a number of published observa- 

 tions on various species of Cerceris. Fabre (1894) describes the 

 habits of several of these. One of them (C. bupresticida Duf.) 

 provisions its nest with Buprestid beetles, five others (C. arenaria, 

 ferreri, truncatella {-^-cincta), labiata and julii) prey on weevils 

 and another (C. rybiensis =ornata) preys on bees of the genera 

 Halictus and Andrena. Marchal (1887) shows, in a beautiful 

 study of this last species, that the wasp not only stings the bee 

 but also crushes, or malaxates the back of its neck and laps up 

 the exuding juices and honey. As a result of this treatment 

 the bee dies in the course of a few hours. Adlerz (1900, 1903) 

 lists C. $-fasciata, arenaria and truncatella as provisioning their 

 nests with weevils, C. hortivaga as preying on bees of the genus 

 Hylceus and C. labiata as collecting both Chrysomelid and Cur- 

 culionid beetles. Ferton (1901, 1905) cites C. specularis, trun- 

 catella and ferreri as preying on weevils, C. emarginata on bees 

 of the genera Halictus, Prosopis and Andrena, and C. magnifica 

 on Halictus and Andrena. This last species laps the honey from 

 the body of its victim through a hole made in the back of its 

 neck, as described by Marchal in the case of C. rybiensis* 



The Peckhams (1898, 1900) find that the American C. clypeata 

 Dahlb., deserta Say and nigrescens F. Smith all prey on weevils, 

 like the majority of European Cerceris, but that C. fumipennis 

 Say preys on a Buprestid beetle, Chrysobothris 4-impressa, which 

 it kills outright. In all the species of Cerceris observed up to 

 the present time the cell is first provisioned with numerous 

 specimens of the prey, the egg is then laid and the cell closed 

 as in the great majority of solitary wasps. 



It would seem, therefore, that the method of rearing the 

 young in Aphilanthops is intermediate between that of Cerceris 

 and Philanthus punctatus on the one hand and of Ph. apivorus 



