^04 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



watch and constantly feed during all stages of larval development. The 

 potter wasps, on the contrary, act quite differently. 



A potter wasp will go off, catch a caterpillar, sting it into insensibility, 

 and then carry it off to its mud cell. This operation is repeated again and 

 again, or until eight or a dozen or more caterpillars have been captured 

 and stored away in its cell. An egg is then deposited on this fresh food, 

 the cell is hermetically closed, and the mother wasp has finished her 

 labours once and for all, and she cares no more for her still unborn off- 

 spring. 



The young larva of a potter wasp receives no attention from its 

 mother ; on hatching, it finds sufficient fresh food at hand in the 

 semi-paralyzed caterpillars stored up in the cell, and is able to care for 

 itself. 



I have recognized in the Eutnenidce four distinct subfamilies : 



Table of Subfamilies. 



i. Middle tibiae with two apical spurs. 2. 



Middle tibire with one apical spur 3. 



2. Second cubital cell receiving both recurrent nervures. 



Second cubital cell oblong or quadrate, not or only slightly nar- 

 rowed above ; claws with a tooth near the 

 middle. Subfamily I. — Ischnogasterinaa. 



Second cubital never oblong or quadrate, always much narrowed 



above ; claws cleft Subfamily II. — Discoelinae. 



Second and third cubital cells each receiving a recurrent 



nervure Subfamily III. — Raphiglossinae. 



3. Second cubital cell receiving both recurrent 



nervures Subfamily IV. — Eumeninse. 



Subfamily I. — Ischnogasterinae. 

 The two spurred middle tibite separate this subfamily from the 

 Eumenidce ; the second cubital cell receiving both recurrent nervures, 

 separates it from the Raphiglosshice, which have the second and third 

 cubital cells each receiving a recurrent nervure ; while from the 

 Discoe/itw, to which it is closely allied, it is separated by the shape 

 of the second cubital ceil, which is oblong or quadrate, and by the claws, 

 which have a tooth at or near the middle, beneath. 



