MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 531 



the time, and am certain of the identification. I had not previously seen a 

 specimen of this species in Baluchistan, though Blanford states that it extends 

 through Baluchistan to Persia. It is certainly not common here. 



C. G. NURSE, Major, 

 Quetta, \lth December 1903. 113th Infantry. 



No. XXIII— THE ENEMIES OF BUTTERFLIES. 



Major Nurse has referred to this point in the last number of this Journal ; 

 my experience has been that butterflies are seldom preyed upon as other flying 

 insects are. I have seen an Attid spider catch a small butterfly and apparently 

 suck it dry before dropping it ; in the West Indies the common lizard, Anolis, 

 Sp., certainly preys on butterflies, eating the body and dropping the wings. 

 Dragonflies never appear to catch butterflies, and it would be interesting to 

 know whether Mantidce and Locustidcc prey on butterflies ; the latter are said 

 to. 



H. MAXWELL LEFROY. 

 Sukat, 21st December 1903. 



No. XXIV— A NOTE ON THE HABITS OF CHLORION (SPHEX) 



LOBATUS. 



A female of this species was observed in a Calcutta compound digging in a 

 grass-plot. The insect was hard at work excavating in loose soil, raking the 

 soil away with her forelegs and jaws. As fast as it wasdug out, the earth was 

 thrown behind her between her legs. In a few minutes she began to disappear 

 below the surface, emerging continually with a load of earth ; this she carried 

 in her forelegs and jaws below her head, and on reaching the surface it was 

 thrown behind her. This continued till the insect had penetrated a little over 

 an inch below ground. A miniature eruption then occurred and a fine large 

 cricket leapt out in a cloud of dust closely followed by the wasp. There was 

 no doubt that the cricket was badly frightened and was doing all it could to get 

 away. It had no chance ; the wasp was after it at once, jumped on its back, 

 and seized it firmly round the thorax. Her abdomen curled round the body of 

 the struggling cricket and the sting was inserted several times into the thorax, 

 just where the big nerve ganglia lie. The cricket struggled violently and dis- 

 lodged the Chlorion, but she again got a firm hold and repeatedly stung it in the 

 middle ventral line of the thorax. Finally the cricket collapsed, only the twitch- 

 ings of the limbs showing it still lived. The Chlorion then left it and flew 

 about till she found a hole, which proved to be one of the openings of the 

 cricket's own burrow. This hole she explored and then returned to the cricket. 

 She placed herself upon it, seized it in her jaws and legs, and with the aid of 

 her wings dragged it to the opening. Then both vanished for some time and 

 the wasp presently re-appeared alone. She covered the hole neatly up with 

 earth and flew away. This little tragedy was now repeated with the difference 

 that the cricket this time burst out at one hole and the wasp at another. The 



