198 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



side of the thorax, lying obliquely between the basal coxae of 

 the first and second pairs of legs. I kept the grasshoppers 

 buried in the damp ground, but they Uved only three days. 

 At the expiration of this time the wasp's egg had disappeared 

 and a mould began to form on the discolored, darkened 

 specimens. 



The Peckhams ^ give an account of a golden Sphex wasp 

 carrying a single green grasshopper into her nest, after which 

 she at once threw in earth as if about to close the burrow. At 

 this juncture they frightened away their wasp, and after digging 

 out the nest shortly after, they found that she had laid her 

 egg as usual on the under surface of the thorax of the grasshopper. 

 From these observations it would seem that this Sphex lays 

 her egg on a single grasshopper, and that is the first one. From 

 what I have observed I have reason to believe that the Peck- 

 hams may have interrupted the work of their insect before 

 she had completed the storage of tlie full complement of grass- 

 hoppers. 



One forenoon - as I was walking along the roadside, a golden 

 Sphex })assed directly in front of me carrying a cone-head 

 grasshopper through the air. She flew in a slanting direc- 

 tion, carrying her l)ur(len with considerable ease, until she 

 alighted among some red-top grass, and finally on the ground. 

 After a short rest she carried her prey up to tiie top of a tall 

 grass blade, where she started off, flying with it about ten inches 

 and landing in front of the opening of her burrow. Then 

 deliberately arranging the head to point toward the hole she 

 left the paralyzed grasshopper. She then proceeded down into 

 her burrow to get it in readiness for her insect prey. In about 

 a minute she suddenly appeared again, and .seizing the grass- 

 hopper by the head she dragged it down into the burrow. 



The golden digger has remarkable dexterity and tremendous 

 strength. This is shown in her power to capture Orehelinnim, 

 and then carry her prey bodily or drag it against all kinds of 

 obstacles to her nest. Her alnlity to destroy the green grass- 

 hopper, Orchelimum, is all the more remarkable when we con- 

 sider that the latter are somewhat cannibalistic and aggressive 



' " Insects <ind Habits of Solitary Wasps." 

 » At Lakeside, July 30, Michigan, 1909. 



