28 Trans. Acad, of St. Louis 



Bicyrtes fodiens Ildl. [S. A. Rohwer]. Three were 

 seen to enter holes in the sandy clay by the roadside at 

 Lake View, Kansas. The burrows were evidently in 

 course of construction, and went down diagonally for 

 about four inches. A fourth one entered an abandoned 

 burrow of Bemhix sp., from which it kicked out some dirt. 

 Bicyrtes cjuadrifasciata Say. [S. A. Rohwer]. One 

 was seen to dig in the soil of Chestley Island on Septem- 

 ber 16, 1919. It commenced burrows in a dozen places, 

 and often entered ready-made burrows in the sand, which 

 probably belonged to its kin, Microbevibix monodonta. 

 The latter species, as well as Bemhix spinolae, was plen- 

 tiful at this spot, as were likewise the diptera, Chaeto- 

 plagia atripennis Coq. [J. M. Aldrich], which probably 

 were parasitic on all three species of wasps. 



Miscophus americanus Fox [S. A. Rohwer]. A num- 

 ber of wasp cocoons were dug out of the soft sand in the 

 bluff at Silica, Mo., on July 2, 1920. Some of them later 

 brought forth this wasp. 



Specius speciosus Say. On two mornings I saw per- 

 haps a half dozen of these formidable wasps flying about 

 a small clump of hawthorn bushes. Some white faces 

 showed that a part of the number were males. The 

 wasps in their llight to and fro often met in collisions 

 in a manner and frequency that certainly made it appear 

 far from accidental; hence we concluded that the whole 

 j)erformance was a flight of courtship of some sort. How- 

 ever, several hours' vigil discovered no cases of actual 

 mating. 



On another occasion a day or so later a big cicada-killer 

 flew wildly in circles near where I was busy. Suddenly 

 she flew high in a willow tree fifty feet away and I gave 

 her no further thought. Fifteen minutes later, down she 

 tlew swiftly in a straight, diagonal line and without stop- 

 ping flew directly into a rodent's burrow at my feet. 

 Hence it seems that her circling flight was to make sure 

 of her burrow, perhaps so there would be no search for 



