SCIENTIFIC SURVEY. 



155 



are colored black and red, brown and red, or wholly blue or black. 

 They are very active, restless in their movements, and have a pow- 

 erful sting-. Ammophila is long, slender, with a long-, pedicelled 

 abdomen, the tip of which is red, and flies and runs on sunny paths 

 and about pumps. " The species inhabit sandy districts, in which 

 A. sabulosa forms its burrow, using its jaws in burrowing; and 

 when they are loaded, it ascends backwards to the mouth, turns 

 quickly round, flies to about a foot's distance, gives a sudden turn, 

 throwing the sand in a complete shower to about six inche's dis- 

 tance, and again alights at the mouthy of its burrow. 



" Latreille states that this species provisions its cells with cater- 

 pillars, but Mr. Shuckard states that he has observed the female 

 dragging a very large inflated spider up the nearly perpendicular 

 side of a sand-bank, at least twenty feet high, and that whilst bur- 

 rowing it makes a loud whirring buzz ; and in the Trans. Ent. Soc. 

 he states that he had detected both A. sabulosa afld hirsuta drasr- 

 ging along large spiders. Mr. Curtis obsei'ved it bury the cater- 

 pillars of a Noctua and Geometra. St. Fargeau, however, states 

 that A. sabulosa collects caterpillars of large size, especially those 

 of Noctuae, with a surprising perseverance, whereas A. arenaria, 

 forming a distinct section in the genus, collects spiders." Wesiivood. 

 Pelopaeus, which is the true mud-wasp, builds in length a row of 

 parallel adjoining cells an inch or more long, and enveloped in an 

 outer case of mud or clay, in the corners of rooms, on rafters, &c., 

 enclosing in each cell some insect. Pelopaeus coeruleus is our com- 

 mon shiny blue " sand-dauber." Pompilus has a short pedicel to 

 its abdomen, and very long hind legs. They run very swiftly in 

 grass and over sandy places, looking like winged black spiders, on 

 which they prey. 



Scoliidae. This group has long, rather narrow hirsute bodies, 

 with short, spiny fossorial legs, sessile abdomen, with two promi- 

 nent terminal spines in the males, and often lunate eyes. They 

 are black, often with bright yellow spots along the sides of the 

 bind body. The genus Scolia is very large, often two inches long, 

 marked with yellow. It is found in the hottest places about strongly 

 scented flowers. It makes deep burrows in sand-banks, provision- 

 ing its cells with grasshoppers, &c. Other species are sluggish, 

 crowding on stems of grass. Sapyga, known by its unusually nar- 

 row body and long, club-shaped antennae, is said to be parasitic on 

 bees of the genus Osmia, in whose nesta-it lays its eggs. 



Mutillidae. This interesting family is characterized by the females 



