Ecological and Behavior Notes 17 



brought from Wickes, Mo. 



Zethus spinipes Say. [S. A. Roliwer]. Found feeding 

 on the flowers of Melilotus alha July 15. 



Nortonia symmorpliy Sauss. [S. A. Rohwer]. Swept 

 from the low grass at twilight, July 30, 1917. 



Odynerus geminus Cress. A turret built by this species 

 and many fresh pellets of mud were found on the baseball 

 diamond October 9, 1919. This is two weeks later than 

 the latest date heretofore recorded. 



Odynerus dorsalis Fab. The empty compartment 

 which regularly occurs in the top of the burrow of 0. 

 dorsalis (see Wasp Studies Afield, pages 312-331) has 

 been puzzling in so far as utility is concerned. I called 

 it the air-chamber, because the only use that I could think 

 of for its presence was to prevent the extremes of tem- 

 perature from affecting the immature organism which 

 spends the winter in a shallow burrow. Another logical 

 hypothesis for explaining this must be accredited to the 

 sincere interest of a small boy. Since the parent wasp 

 is not equipped with jaws sufficiently powerful to dig 

 out the hard earth, but must carry water to first change 

 it into soft mud, we cannot expect the young emerging 

 insect to cut its way out through a solid plug of hard 

 earth when it can get no water; in fact, under a heavy 

 plug they would practically be hopelessly entombed. 

 Iseley records two species of caterpillars used for prey 

 by this wasp in Kansas. We have recorded, from three 

 distinct times and localities, only the caterpillars of 

 Pholisora cattulus used by the St. Louis 0. dorsalis. We 

 here add another record of twelve cells taken September 

 2, 1918, containing an aggregate of 51 caterpillars, all of 

 which were of the one species. 



Odynerus foraminatus Sauss. [S. A Rohwer]. An 

 elder twig, taken at Hematite, Mo., on October 18, 1918, 

 gave forth this adult Eumenid on April 30, 1919. This 

 twig was hollow, and the lower four inches were filled up 

 with finely bitten up pith. This indicates that the twig 



