246 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



The Australian genus Abispa^^ constructs a nest with a 

 funnel-shaped entrance and of so large a size that it might 

 pass for the nest of a colony instead of a solitary wasp. 



The females of Rhynchium oculaUim,^^ according to Lichten- 

 stein, construct from fifteen to twenty cells in pithy plants, 

 and destroy from 150 to 200 caterpillars each. The East 

 Indian R. carnatium uses hollow stems of bamboo. R. nitichi- 

 lum constructs clay cells similar to those of Eitmenes, and 

 fixes them firmly to wood. 



A number of observers have recorded food habits of variou.s 

 Eumenid«. Riley^^ writes that the fraternal potter wasp, 

 Eumenes fraternus, according to Harris, stores its cell with 

 cankerworms. Its clay nests are always closely packed with 

 eighteen to twenty worms. These nests are attached to golden- 

 rod or other plants in the open, or they are cemented under 

 loose bark of some trees. Sometimes they are even attached 

 to leaves of deciduous trees. 



E. B. Southwick" also writes regarding Eumenes fraternus, 

 which is one of the worst enemies of the parsnip worm {De- 

 pressaria heracliana) . He says : "One of these wasps would 

 alight on the umbel in which a web was situated, and would 

 begin to peer into it first at one end and then at another, 

 all the time getting rnore and more excited. On discovering 

 the worm within, it would commence to run its abdomen into 

 the end of the web with its head toward the opposite end, as 

 if trying to eject the occupant, and every now and then darting 

 at the orifice as the worm would approach it. In this way it 

 would work for a long time, first at one end and then at the 

 other, no doubt each time thrusting out its sting." In this 

 way the cell was packed at each end until it became too short 

 to cover the larva. When it showed itself it was grabbed by 

 the mandibles of the wasp and dragged forth with more or 

 less difficulty. By repeated jerks and stings the larva was 

 dislodged, then stung again and carried away by the wasp. 



Nests were found on an old goldenrod stalk in an open wood. 

 Four cells were all filled with larvse, many of which were larvae 

 of the parsnip webworm. 



M. J. Lichtenstein^^ writes of 0. crassicormis. This wasp, 



12. Cambridge, Nat. Hist., vol. VI, pp. 72-78. 



13. Rep. U. S. Ent. Coram., Ill, p. 177. 



14. Ins. Life, vol. V, p. 107. 



15. Bull. Ent. Sor. Fr.. vol. IV, p. 86. 



