isely: eumenid^ of Kansas. 267 



burrow. However, when it found the entrance to the tube it 

 would go in at once, even though the wasp might happen to be 

 within the nest. In the latter case the chrysidid would come 

 out in great haste. 



On one occasion I saw this Chrysis pattoni break open a 

 tube with its mandibles. The tube had been sealed the day 

 before by the wasp. Chrysis did not try to break the tube at 

 the base, where it was thickest, but at the distal end. I took 

 Chrysis out of the nest after it had penetrated to the main 

 burrow. 



0. papagorum occasionally showed signs of hostility toward 

 the cuckoo bee by darting at it when the latter was too near 

 its nest. The cuckoo bee always made good its escape. It also 

 showed signs of fear when it entered the wasp's nest and found 

 the owner at home. Most of the time, however, each of these 

 insects ignored the other's presence. 



In spite of the abundance of this cuckoo bee, I found little 

 evidence of parasites in any of the nests that I opened. Pupal 

 cases, probably of some chrysidid, were sometimes found in 

 nests. I found one nest with an unfamiliar grub in it feeding 

 in the same cell with the Odynerits grub. 



Joint proprietors with 0. papagorum of the cliffs in which 

 the large colonies were located were Anthrophora occidentalis, 

 several andrenid bees, several species of philanthids, Try- 

 poxylon sp., and 0. hildagi. No advantages or disadvantages 

 to 0. papagoruw, seemed to result from this proximity of other 

 insects except of Anthrophora. Twice I noted Odynerus tak- 

 "ng mud from this bee's tube, and the vacated burrows of the 

 Lee sometimes furnished shelters for the bases of the tubes of 

 Odyyierus. Had they been more numerous, O. hildagi might 

 have become a rival for food, as they preyed on the same 

 caterpillars. 



This wasp was strongly colonial in habit. It may have been 

 due to a certain extent to the scarcity of ideal nesting sites. 

 This does not seem to me to be sufficient explanation, however. 

 In Rush county a colony was located on an earthen wall at the 

 entrance of a dugout cave. This wall presented an area of 

 bout thirty-five square feet, artificially made smooth. It was 

 in one plane and all parts were almost equally exposed to the 

 weather, as there were no ledges of earth for the protection of 

 tubes to prejudice the location of a colony in a certain place. 

 Yet a colony of ten nests was located on a space seven by 



