Ill 



SCOLIIDAE THYNNIDES SCOLIIDES 



97 



cases, however, have the sexes been matched, so that at present 

 males are no doubt standing in the lists of Hymenoptera as one 

 species and their females as other species. 



Sub-Fam. 3. Scoliides. Pronotum reaching back to the tegulae ; 

 legs stout; intermediate tibiae until one apical spur; both 

 sexes winged ; the nervures not extending to the posterior 

 (i.e. distal} margin. 



This group includes some of the largest and most powerful of 

 the Aculeate Hymenoptera. Its members are usually hairy 

 Insects with thick legs, 

 the colour being black, 

 more or less variegated 

 with bands or spots of 

 red or yellow ; the hind 

 body is elongate, has 

 only a very short pedi- 

 cel, and in the male 

 is usually termin- 

 ated by three project- 

 ing spines. The pro- 

 notum is of variable 

 dimensions, but its front 

 angles are always co- 

 adapted with the points of insertion of the front wings. The 

 nervuratioii of the front wings is confined to the basal part, the 

 extensive apical or outer area possessing no nervures. There is 

 frequently a great difference in the size of the two sexes of the same 

 species, the female being very much larger than the other sex. The 

 larvae, so far as is known, devour those of Lamellicorn Coleoptera. 



Fabre has investigated the habits of some of the species of 

 Scoliides found in France, and has informed us that their means 

 of subsistence consists of larvae of the larger Lamellicorn beetles, 

 Cetonia, Oryctes, Anoxia, and Euclilora ; these beetles belong to 

 very different divisions of the Lamellicornia, but they have in 

 common the fact that their larvae are of subterranean habits, 

 living in the earth or in accumulations of debris in which there 

 is a large proportion of vegetable matter or roots. The female 

 Scolia penetrates into the ground in order to find the Lamellicorn 

 larvae necessary as food for its progeny. Scolia bifasciata 



VOL. VI H 



FIG. 40. Scolia haemorohoidalis 9- Europe. 



