PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued ImI?(v>L.\^^! by the 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 Vol. 84 Washington : 1936 No. 3005 



THE NEST OF ODYNERUS TEMPIFERUS VAR MACIO 

 BEQUAERT, WITH NOTES ON THE HABITS OF THE 

 WASPS 1 



By Austin H. Clark 



Curator of Echinoderms, United States National Museum 



and 



Grace A. Sandhouse 



Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, United States Department of 



Agriculture 



Although much has been written on the habits of various solitary 

 wasps, nearly all the available information has to do with the con- 

 struction and storing of the cells and the capture of the prey. Little 

 has been recorded concerning the habits of the insects immediately 

 after reaching the adult stage. 



The rearing of a series of individuals of both sexes of Odynerus 

 temyiferus var. macio Bequaert ^ from a nest brought to us by David 

 I. Bushnell, Jr., gave us an opportunity for making notes upon the 

 habits of this wasp based upon individuals the entire history of 

 which, as adults at least, was known. As the nest was too fragile to 

 send to Dr. Bequaert for study after the emergence of the wasps, a 

 description of it is included herein. 



Locality. — At the mouth of Tobacco Creek, between Essex and 

 Caroline Counties, Va., 25 miles from Fredericksburg. The nest was 

 collected by David I. Bushnell, Jr., on October 15, 1935. 



Nest. — The nest was constructed about a fork in a slender alder 

 {.Alrviis rugosa) twig that is 4 mm in diameter just beneath the nest. 



1 The studies recorded herein of the reactions of these wasps to light were made in co- 

 operation with Dr. E. D. McAlister, Division of Radiation and Organisms, Smithsonian 

 Institution. 



2proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 84. pp. 79-88, 1936. 



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