1902] Harrington — Fauna Ottawaensis. 217 



and some of its members are very prettily marked. They offer a 

 fine field for study of life habits as hardly anything^ is known in 

 reg-ard to them. The family Sphegidae contains those species 

 which are at the height of tashion as regards slimness of waist. 

 The small abdomen is attached to the thorax by a threadlike 

 petiole consisting of one or two segments exceedingly attenuated, 

 and frequently -nuch longer than the abdomen itself The black, 

 or red and black, Ammophilas may be seen hawking up and down 

 paths in fields, and collecting caterpillars for their burrows, which 

 are constructed in dry light soil. The mud-daubers which build 

 clay cells, often in groups, under stones or about buildings, provi- 

 sion them with spiders. 



The foregoing scant remarks will give only a brief and imper- 

 fect idea of the diversity of habits to be looked for among the 

 Sphegoidae, and of the correspondently great interest to be derived 

 from a careful observation of our species, regarding- so many of 

 which nothing definite or authentic is recorded. Those of our 

 members who, more fortunate than the writer, are able to spend 

 the summer in the country, could derive a great deal of pleasure 

 in considering the ways of these wasps, and would by carefully 

 recorded observations much amplify our knowledge of their life, 

 histories. As a guide for such work, so suitable for ladies sum. 

 mering afield, there is a delightful book on the " Instincts and 

 Habits of the Solitary Wasps," by Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Peckham, 

 of Milwaukee. Acquaintances could readily be made among these 

 lively and industrious insects, which would make the sweet sum- 

 mer hours still more enjoyable and the fields to yield new interests. 

 The plates in the volume just mentioned give excellent figures of 

 several of our common species, and many of our forms are por- 

 trayed in the beautiful plates of "The Insect Book," by Dr. 

 Howard, the eminent United States Entomologist. This splendid 

 book should be in every household, especially in every farm house 

 or country cottage, a mine of information and delightful interest for 

 every youth, who desires to know somewhat of the teeming life of 

 the fields, the woods and the waters. 



