Vol. XXlii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 245 



Kellogg in his "American Insects" gives a good illustrated 

 account of the habits of Ammophila sp? which excavates bur- 

 rows on the saline flats along San Francisco Bay, in California. 

 That species closes its burrow with the disk of salt-incrusted 

 sand which it cut out in the first place to commence the exca- 

 vation. 



The Peckhams in their "Instincts and Habits of Solitary 

 Wasps" have made extended observations on the habits of 

 Ammophila urnaria. These close the entrance of their bur- 

 rows with lumps of earth or small stones and pack down the 

 superimposed dirt with a pebble making all smooth like the 

 surrounding well packed soil. 



The genus Ammophila stores its burrows with lepidopterous 

 larvae of several species. That described by Kellogg, uses a 

 Geometrid, and urnaria a Noctuid. A rather small species ob- 

 served in Cheyenne County, Kansas, in July, selected a green 

 Noctuid larva. We observed her on the tent roof struggling 

 with a green cutworm she was trying to carry away. It ap- 

 peared that the larva stuck to the cloth and would neither raise 

 itself nor roll off. The wasp grasping the back of the larva 

 near the head with her mandibles, reached up and inserted her 

 sting in the ventral part of the thorax. This made the larva 

 let loose and after some tumbling the two rolled off the tent 

 to the ground, and Ammophila straddling its prey carried it 

 about three feet, then dropping it went off about three inches, 

 scratched away some dirt, removed a lump of baked earth, and 

 went down the hole thereby opened. Emerging she returned 

 to the larva, pulled it to the hole, and descending into the latter 

 backwards, dragged the larva after her. She soon came out, 

 replaced the lid (the lump of baked earth) and carefully 

 scratched dirt upon it, using her head to tamp it down upon 

 the lid. Then picking up a small stick she packed the earth 

 down a little, after which she scratched more dirt over the 

 place. Three times she returned to make the deception more 

 complete. So carefully did she do her work that the onlookers 

 could not positively locate her nest. 



A larger species was observed in Rawlins County in the act 



