122 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



The Larridae are rather stoutly built insects, for the most 

 part of somber coloration, and, in the United States, range 

 from about one-eighth of an inch to nearly an inch in length. 

 Being very swift of movement and inobtrusive in habit, they 

 are seldom seen by the the casual observer. Generally speak- 

 ing, they store their burrows with long- or short-horned grass- 

 hoppers, crickets, and bugs, which are subdued by stinging. 

 The wasp lays an egg in each provisioned cell, closes it, and 

 then leaves her offspring to work out its own salvation in this 

 dark chamber. Upon hatching, the grub devours the food pro- 

 vided (this is often in a decomposing condition), and reaches 

 maturity, to spin or form a sort of cocoon. From this cocoon 

 the wasp emerges in due season, to continue the life-cycle. 



Those of us who have not had the good fortune, the patience 

 or the inclination to watch one of these digger wasps at work 

 have missed the opportunity of observing an insect of re- 

 markable instincts, great perseverance, and notable tfemerity 

 in attacking its often huge prey. Few persons have any idea 

 of the vast amount of good done by these Hymenoptera, for 

 the noxious insects destroyed by the solitary wasps is very 

 great, and plays an important part in maintaining the balance 

 in nature. 



The external anatomy of the large species, Tachytes dis- 

 tinctus, which is worked out in this paper, has presented 

 features of interest to the writer, while the classification of 

 the group, because of its ill-defined limits and the close rela- 

 tionship which many of the species (of which fifty-eight have 

 been found in Kansas) bear to one another, is rendered at the 

 same time both attractive and perplexing. 



This paper is of necessity far from complete, particularly so 

 is the chapter devoted to biology ; nor can the writer hope that 

 it is free from errors. 



The identifications have been made with care, and if the 

 status of a species is uncertain it is so indicated in the text. 

 The types of the new species are in the Snow entomological 

 collections, at Kansas University, at Lawrence. 



While in most cases the keys are largely modifications of 

 those of Sharp, Cresson, Fox, Ashmead, and others, the writer 

 frequently emphasizes characters heretofore but little used in 

 classification in the American keys to species, so that this 

 portion of the work is not lacking in originality. The generic 

 and often the specific descriptions are in a great measure 



