180 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June 



nests are frequently to be found in the stems of the white sage so 

 common throughout South California. 



For nesting sites they prefer the larger stems, first gnawing 

 through the thin partitions opposite the leaf insertions, which nat- 

 urally divide au otherwise hollow stem. The parent wasp first 

 packs the bottom of this tube with very fine, grass-like fibres; 

 which, on investigation, prove to be fine strips of the loosely fib- 

 rous bark of Audibertia polystacha, from 1-4 inch to 1 1-2 inches in 

 length. On this is laid the larval food supply which consists of, on 

 au average, of seven or eight tree crickets. The egg is laid on the 

 breast of one of the tree crickets, a wad of bark ti'jre is placed on the 

 top which forms the base for the next cell, elc. A copious wad. 

 sometimes three or four inches in depth, protects the topmost cell. 



The cocoon when completed is one inch long and one quarter inch 

 wide at its widest part at the cephalic end. It has two coverinirs 

 the outer a loose sac resembling tissue paper, of a grayish brown 

 color, the inner somewhat resembling that of the common mud 

 dauber, but stouter and denser. 



The majority of the adult wasps hatch out in July and August 

 and pass the winter concealed in crevices or other convenient shel- 

 ters in trees and rooks; a few, probably not more than 15 or 20 per 

 cent., remain in the larval stage till the following May. They 

 make their escape by forcing their way through the fibrous divis- 

 ions above, seldom cutting their way through the sides of the stem. 



P. trypoxylonisi Towns; may, as usual, be found to have con- 

 sumed the larval food. Of genuine parasites there are few, all of 

 them attack the larva after it has spun its coo^on. They are Epis- 

 f< //ia cwrtdata, Pkotopsts unicolor, Photopsisferrugineo. 



A DAVIDSON, M. D.. 

 Clifton, Arizona. 



NOTES ON CALIFORNIA WASPS. THE NESTING HABITS OF ANCIS- 

 TROCEKUS BIRENIMACULATUS, SAuss. In the end of February or in 

 the first week of March, before the increasing warmth of spring 

 has yet stirred any of the other \vasps,this one has broken its way 

 through its cell and begun building for its coming brood. It usually 

 constructs its cells in the hollow stems of plants or in the deserted 

 tunnel of some other species. If the cavity is a narrow one, these 

 cells are placed in a single series; it 1 wide, they are grouped to- 

 gether laterally, in sufficient numbers to till the cavity. The cells 

 vary in size according to the cavity they occupy, their average ex. 

 terual measurement being 710 inch long by 3-1!) wide. They are 

 circular on section, truncate at the ends, and are built of little pel- 

 lets of clay pieced together in a manner similar to that of the com- 

 mon mud-dauber wasp of this section. The number of cells built 

 by each wasp varies from 2 to 15. 



Immediately on exit they begin to build fresh nests and many 

 may be found complete in April. The young are fed on the small 

 green larvae found so abundantly on the leaves of the common Ar- 



