BY W. W. FROGGATT. 29 



the provisions stored for the, young wasp, and perhaps also the 

 young wasp, forming a stout brown silken cocoon in which to 

 pupate ; I have bred out several specimens. These inquiliues are 

 placed in the Alastor nest while the builders are out hunting 

 for caterpillars, tlieir active mothers being on the watch to crawl 

 in and deposit the eggs in the owner's absence. 



Abispa splkndida, Guerin, Voyage de la Coquille, 1830, Insecta, 

 p. 265. 



Among our "mason or mud wasps" this takes the palm for 

 being one of the largest and handsomest, only equalled by the 

 closely allied but very distinct species A. ephipphim. It is 1^^ 

 inches in length, very broad and robust, with semi-opaque reddish- 

 orange wings slightly clouded with fuscous at the tips ; the wasp 

 is rich velvety black, with the antenna?, face, an elongate mark 

 behind the eyes, the prothoracic collar, and the sides of the meta- 

 thorax bright orange-yellow ; a narrow band of the same colour 

 along the apical edge of the first and second segments of the 

 abdomen, the third, fourth, fifth and sixth rich orange-yellow, 

 only showing a marginal black band at base, while the anal 

 segment and the underside of the four apical ones are orange- 

 yellow. The male and female are generally found together when 

 the site of the nest is chosen, though whether the male assists in 

 its construction I am not certain, but I believe he does- 



The nest is very compact and solid, attached to the bark of an 

 overhanging tree, roof of an outhouse, or some sheltered position ; 

 it is bh inches long, 2^ inches wide, and 1| inches thick, rough on 

 the outer surface, showing where each ball of clay has been 

 attached, rounded at each extremity; along the centre opening out 

 towards the side is a row of six tubular cells, 1^ inches deep and 

 4 lines in diameter. The nesb when finished is provisioned with 

 small lepiclopterous caterpillars, which are captured on the grass, 

 and after being stung are jammed into the cell till it is quite full, 

 the aperture being closed with a thin sheet of clay. The larva, 

 after finishing its food supply, does not spin any cocoon, but 

 undergoes its metamorphosis naked. 



