A JAMAICAN SAND WASP, 



463 



We now come to tlie typical ^enus of the Sphegidte, an 

 example of wliicli is the beautiful S'phex argentata, so called 

 from the broad silvery band which encircles the middle of the 

 abdomen. There is a peculiarity about this silvery band. It 

 is very conspicuous, and yet, when examined closely, it disap- 

 pears. This effect is produced by the very short and fine 

 silvery pile which exists upon that part of the abdomen, and 



::S^ 



Fig. 243. — Spliex argentata. 

 (Black, with silver belt on nTidomen.) 



sometimes extends to the metathorax. The rest of the insect ia 

 black, and the wings are transparent. 



Few insects have so great a range as this, specimens having 

 been brought from India, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Ceram, and 

 many parts of Africa and Europe. 



A VERY graphic account of the proceedings of a Jamaican 

 species of Sphex is given by Mr. Gosse in his " Naturalist's 

 Sojourn in Jamaica " : — 



" On the earthen floor of the building, formerly used as the 

 boiling-house on Bluefields Estate, but now dilapidated and par- 

 tially unroofed, where twine-like roots depend from the rafters, 

 and elegant ferns spring out of the crevices of the crumbling 

 walls, a good many large wasp-like flies may be observed in the 



