Jo NESTS AND HABITS OF AUSTRALIAN VESPID^ AND LARRID^, 



thorax ; head and thorax closely and coarsely punctured, the 

 segments of the abdomen covered with much finer punctures 

 partly hidden by the fine pubescence clothing the dorsal surface ; 

 the face, the inner margin of scape, and a slender v-shaped patch 

 between them, the tibiae, tarsi, the prothorax, a circular spot on 

 the side, the scutellum, post-scutellum, and a patch on either side 

 of apex of the metathoi-ax deep orange-yellow. The first segment 

 of abdomen orange-yellow with a blackish blotch at the base, 

 second segment very broad and prominent, velvety black, with 

 the apical edge orange-yellow ; the three following segments dull 

 orange-yellow, with a narrow line of black at base, and tip dull 

 orange-yellow ; the wings large, fuscous, with the nervures black. 



The nests are formed on the underside of the overhanging 

 branches of trees, a hollow or depression in the bark being 

 generally chosen for the site. They are invariably composed of 

 bright yellow clay (which makes them very conspicuous), forming 

 several coarsely granulated tubular masses, six lines in diameter, 

 and from two and a half to three inches in length, each containing 

 six or seven cylindrical chambers rounded at the extremities, and 

 separated from each other by a thin clay partition. 



Each nest consists of from two to five of these tubular cell- 

 masses, sometimes lying beside each other, but generally when 

 there are more than two or three, the last ones are built along the 

 top of the basal rows; each cell is provisioned with from 18 to 

 20 small lepidopterous caterpillars, which are eaten as required 

 by the wasp larvae; the latter when they have emptied their larder 

 do not spin a cocoon to pupate in, but the walls of the chamber 

 are covered with a thin membranous skin fitting closely to the 

 clay. They are subject to the attacks of cuckoo wasps and other 

 parasitic hymenoptera ; in one nest I found a small Bracon 

 larva beside the young Alastor, which it soon devoured, and then 

 spun an elongate white silken cocoon, out of which it emerged 

 ten days after ; 2| lines in length, black, with reddish legs, 

 the hind thighs very much thickened ; a beautiful sabre-shaped 

 exserted ovipositor as long as the whole abdomen. The cuckoo 

 wasps [Chrysis sp.) are very common in this nest; they eat up 



