WILLIAMS: LARRID-^ OF KANSAS. 185 



small wasps of the genus Miscophus have been noted to prey 

 on spiders ; this also holds true of our species in this genus, so 

 far as observed. 



The writer has had access to but a small portion of the 

 European literature relating to fossorial wasps. 



In America, Taclnjtes Iiarpax and mandibularis use Locus- 

 tidse of the genus Xiphidium. Acridiidte furnish the prey of 

 the other species of the genus, in so far as it was noted. The 

 Tachijsphex were observed to seek Acridiidfe, which may be 

 of the subfamilies Acridiinse, Tryxalinse, or (Edipodinse. An 

 lachysphe.r hitei Roh., in the collection of the U. S. National 

 Museum, was captured with a young cursorial mantid, Lita- 

 neutria minor Scudd. An interesting observation has been 

 made in Texas by Hartman, who took Tachjisphex tc.vmia in the 

 act of c?,ptur'ng a fly larger than herself. (See Bull. 65, Sc'en- 

 tific Series, U. of Tex., p. 55-6; 1905.) The other genera of 

 Larridse furnished, on the whole, rather fragmentary data as 

 regards theu' prey. In the case of Notogonia argentata, youmj 

 Gryllida are used ; some of the Larropsis prey upon Ceutophili 

 (Locustidte), while Plenoculus and several of the Niteliopsift 

 store their nests with small Heteroptera. It is to be noted that 

 the prey of some certain one of these wasps is frequently 

 limited only to a family of insects, and that therefore these 

 "fossorials" are not as select as regards their victims as is 

 often held to be the case. 



Nests. 



According to m.y observations, the Larridse almost invari- 

 ably excavate their own burrows. On rare occasions they 

 were found to have taken advantage of a crack, and perhaps 

 also of a strange tunnel, to lessen the work of digging. A few 

 of the smaller species make their nests in brambles, but the 

 great majority burrow in the earth. Tacky sphex digs shallow 

 one-celled tunnels, and must often make several in one day. 

 Tachiites and Notogonia make far more elaborate burrows, 

 which are deeper and contain from a few to many cells. Sup- 

 plying such nests as these requires several days, and in certain 

 cases perhaps as much as eight or ten. The very incomplete 

 observations on the genera Larra. Larropsis, Plenoetdus and 

 Lijroda seem to indicate that their nests are neither du3: nor 

 provisioned in a single day. 



