168 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Mr. Pergande read the following : 



ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE HABITS OF 

 AMMOPHILA GRYPHUS SM. 



By THEO. PERGANDE. 



Since my observations on the habits of this species, published 

 in the Proc. Ent. Soc. of Washington, Vol. II, No. 2, June 27, 

 1892, I was fortunate to meet this species again in the same 

 locality and to note a few more of its characteristics while in the 

 act to provide for its future offspring. 



On the twenty-ninth day of September, while leisurely walking 

 up hill on the same slope where the first observation was made, 

 and while near the top of this slope, I noticed suddenly, in a 

 rather sandy section, which was almost bare of vegetation, save 

 a few isolated tufts of grass or a few other plants, one female 

 of this species, running briskly about, with her head quite close to 

 the ground, as if in search for something of more than usual inter 

 est. After travelling about twenty feet, in a more or less straight 

 line, stopping here and there to investigate the surface of the soil 

 and its surroundings, she came to a perfectly bare spot, where she 

 stopped for a few moments and scratched the surface slightly, so 

 as to form a very shallow depression, after which she commenced 

 to retrace her steps in a somewhat roundabout way, describing 

 in her wanderings an elongated ellipse, stopping again here and 

 there to investigate the surroundings, till she reached a bare spot in 

 the vicinity of an oak, where a larva of Heterocampa sub- 

 albicans was stretched out on the sand, dead to all appearances, 

 though perfectly fresh, as if but recently killed, and which, no 

 doubt, had been stung and temporarily deposited on the sand 

 until it could be disposed of. After finding it again, she straddled 

 it, took hold of it not far from the head and travelled with her 

 load in an almost direct line to the spot which she had marked 

 previously. Arriving at her destination, she laid down the larva 

 and commenced in earnest to dig a hole for its reception ; the 

 whole operation lasting but a few seconds. After finishing the 

 chamber, she came out, took hold of the larva, dragged it to its 

 destination at the bottom of the chamber, and remained with it 

 for about two minutes ; after emerging again, she remained in 

 front of the opening for a moment and uttered a sound like 

 "ched ched," then took a small pebble, rolled it into the opening 

 and scraped a little sand after it ; another pebble was added and 

 more sand scraped in, the insect uttering meanwhile the same 

 sound. After this, the hole was gradually filled up and the sand 

 tightly pushed in, till full, when the remaining material was 



