194 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



Tachytes distinctits Sm. (Figs. 113-116, early stages and nest-mound.) 

 It was not until the summer of 1912 that I was able to locate 

 the burrow of this large and common species. Many times had 

 I watched her hunting her prey among the weeds, while on 

 several occasions she was seen to pounce upon the immature 

 acridian, but here my observations were ended, for distinctus, 

 holding the locust beneath her,* would fly away and be soon 

 lost to view. At times she would rise high in air with her 

 burden before starting in the direction of her burrow, and 

 again she would pursue her journey homewards at an elevation 

 of only a few feet over the weeds. Her mode of hunting also 

 was not uniform, for where one female would crawl over the 

 vegetation, another examined the weeds while on the wing. 

 Perhaps the latter mode is the more common in the species, and 

 was well exemplified by a distinctus, which was seen inspecting 

 a large patch of stinking clover (Cleome) for her orthopterous 

 prey. The locusts on these weeds did not relish the presence of 

 their fierce foe, and would oftentimes hasten behind a stem for 

 shelter. Passing from plant to plant, however, she finally 

 selected a good-sized Melanoplus nymph, poised briefly before 

 her intended victim, and, pouncing upon it, dispatched it with 

 her sting. 



In Rooks county, northern Kansas, these wasps were abun- 

 dant, and here several of their burrows were located. One 

 morning, in early August, a distinctus was seen to fly with a 

 heavy acridian to a hole in a sandy slope, and enter it with her 

 burden beneath her. At this juncture I left the spot and did 

 not return until 4 P. M. A short period after this hour dis- 

 tinctus came flying heavily, carrying beneath her a good-sized 

 locust, venter up. She alighted heavily once or twice in the 

 bush near by before entering her abode. Stopping up the 

 entrance, I commenced digging with my trowel. The soil was 

 rather loose and sandy, and moist to a depth of about six 

 inches, where it was replaced by firm, black earth, and finally 

 by a hard, dry stratum. The circular entrance to the wasp's 

 tunnel was six-sixteenths of an inch in diameter and went 

 through a heap of sand one and one-sixth inches high by two 

 and fifteen-sixteenths inches wide at the base. The outer cov- 

 ering of this mound was composed of small, loose lumps, per- 



* It may be said here that the wa&p is quite particular as res:ards the method of carry- 

 ing her prey. She sometimes fusses considerably before grasping it in the right manner, 

 i. e., holding the orthopteron's antenna in her jaws and clasping the body beneath her 

 with her legs. 



