196 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



a stout form, and some mammse-like processes on the thoracic 

 region (fig. 114). Some of the grubs showed a reddish hufj 

 through the thin skin, while several were quite green, the 

 color being probably dependent upon that of the juice of the 

 victim. 



Two other nests of distinctus were located. One of these 

 was but a few feet removed from the one just considered. 

 There was no cone of soil surrounding the aperture as in the 

 first case, but only a little heap of sand before it. The slope 

 was about 40 degrees, and the tunnel seemed blocked for u 

 distance of two and one-half inches down. Sixteen cells, con- 

 taining in all thirty-eight locusts, were found. From one lO 

 five (usually two or three) were placed in each cell. The 

 locusts were of the genera Hvsperotettix and Mclanopliis ; one 

 of the latter, a male femur-nihyum, was mature. The wasp. 

 which I presently caught, was an old one, with noticeably 

 frayed wings and the end of her abdomen coated with dried 

 mud. Nest-building, however, had not progressed as much 

 here as in the first case. 



Shorty before 5 P. M. one evening a female distinctus was 

 observed flying about an open area which was carpeted largely 

 with bufi'alo grass. She would alight now and then to creep 

 among the stems and roots, where she sometimes disappeared 

 from view. At 4:55 P. M. she entered what seemed to be the 

 commencement of a small hole, and began digging with a 

 lather slow movement, emitting now and then the squeaky 

 buzz common to the.'^e and many other Hymenoptera. In work- 

 ing she loosens the soil with her jaws, pushes it by v/ith he^' 

 fore legs, and finally shoves the earth outside with the end of 

 her abdomen (this explains the frequently mud-covered py- 

 gidium), but never comes outside the hole with a load of dirt, 

 as do some of the Tacliysphex. Finally, at 5 :23 p. M., she 

 emerged, took wing, and with ever-widening circles disap- 

 peared. There was quite a heap of soil around the hole bv 

 this time, and much more by 8 :35 the next morning, showinj^ 

 that Tachytes had done considerable excavat'ng during th^ 

 nterval. I watched her bring in a small MelanoiAi at 8:43 

 A. M. At 11 :53 I found the aperture blocked with soil, tho 

 wasp being at work within. On returning at 1 :30 P. M. the 

 hole was again open, and at 1:42, 1:52 and 2:17 I saw her 

 bring in Melanopli nymphs, the hole being barely large enough 

 to admit wasp and prey simultaneously. She then rema'nei 



