74 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



nest; for in the case of each of the wasps previously observed I 

 digged away the weeds and sand up to within a few inches of 

 the nest before the wasp had completed it and yet not one of 

 them abandoned her nest. I waited an hour but the wasp did 

 not return and I then digged up the completed nest. It contained 

 a large caterpillar with three dipterous larvae upon it which were 

 feeding upon the egg of the wasp of which little remained. 



One thing brought out by these limited observations is the 

 difference in individuality or temperament shown by members 

 of the same species. No. 55 would tolerate no interference with 

 her nesting operations; she picked up her caterpillar, carried it 

 off and put it in a new nest. Nos. 58 and 62, however, could 

 not be driven from their nests by the most persistent interference 

 with their work. These wasps continued the construction of 

 their nests although I completely altered the appearance of the 

 nesting site before the nests were finished, whereas No. 68 aban- 

 doned a half-finished nest simply because I approached a trifle 

 too close. 



II. OXYBELUS QUADRINOTATUS SAY. 



There has been considerable discussion and difference of opin- 

 ion as to the manner in which this little wasp carries her prey. 

 In the March number of Psyche, 1894, Ashmead cites Verhoeff 

 as authority for the statement that Oxybelus does not paralyze 

 its prey by stinging it because of the fact that the abdomen is 

 too rigid to permit of this action. This author maintains that 

 Oxybelus kills the flies by crushing the thorax with her mandibles. 

 In the same article Ashmead also cites Fabre as authority for the 

 statement that Oxybelus carries her prey home impaled on her 

 sting. The Peckhams, however, in their work on the solitary 

 wasps, a part of which is the report of their observations upon 

 this particular species (quadrinotatus Say), take Fabre to task 

 on this point and insist that this wasp, unlike other digger wasps, 

 uses her third pair of legs to carry the fly, which is held tightly 

 clasped by the head. In this way they account for the manner 

 in which the fly projects behind the wasp in flight. It is significant 

 to note here that the Peckhams report complete failure in all 

 their attempts to make the wasp drop the fly she carried. 



The little wasps of this species nest in great numbers in the 

 sand near my home, using the common housefly to store their 

 nests. I found it an easy matter to determine just how this 

 species carries her victim. As the wasp entered the nest, which 

 is always closed after each visit, I seized the fly with a pair of 

 forceps and pulled the wasp adhering to it out of her nest back- 

 ward while observing her under a lens. I did this repeatedly 

 and there is not the slightest doubt of the fact that she carries 



