WASP GENUS CERCERIS — SCULLEN 337 



extensive report ou the nesting habits of C. robertsonii Fox is given by 

 Krombein in 1952c (pp. 288-294). This same worker (1956, p. 43) 

 pubHshed a brief note on the nesting of C. atramontensis Banks at 

 Dunn Loring, Fairfax Co., Va., in which he reported the wasp collect- 

 ing the weevils Conotrachelus posticatus Boheman and C. naso LaConte. 



In 1958 (p. 110) Krombein reported observations on the nesting of 

 C . jumipennis Say at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., where he found the wasp 

 utilizing the buprestids Chrysobothris femorata (OUver) and Dicerca 

 lurida (Fabricius) as food for its young. 



In 1958 Krombein found a colony of Cerceris jiavofasciata H. S. 

 Smith nesting at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., in a vertical sand bank (1959, 

 pp. 197-198). These wasps were found to be using as prey for their 

 young the following chr3^someHd beetles: Cryptocephalus guttulatus 

 OHver, C. mutabilis Melsheimer, Cryptocephalus sp. (probably quadri- 

 maculatus Say), Bassareus clathratus (Melsheimer), Bassareus sp. 

 (probably sellatus Suffrian), and Chlamisus sp. (probably plicata 

 (LeConte)). A mutiUid, Dasymutilla nigripes (Fabricius), was reared 

 from a cocoon of the wasp. 



In 1959 Krombein (1960a, pp. 75-77; 1960b, pp. 299-300) studied 

 the nesting habits of C. bicornuta jidelis Viereck and CockereU and 

 C. frontata frontata Say at Portal, Ariz. The former wasp was found 

 to be storing a weevil, Eupagoderes sp.; the latter wasp was storing 

 Cleonus pidvereus (LeConte) and Eupagoderes sp. 



In 1956 Linsley and MacSwain pubhshed extensive studies of the 

 nesting and prey collecting habits of Cerceris californica Cresson, 

 which they found at San Dimas Experimental Forest and Range Ex- 

 periment Station, San Gabriel Mountains, CaUf. These workers 

 found C. californica Cresson using a total of 24 species of Buprestidae 

 as prey to feed their young. Considerable information also is included 

 on the parasites of the wasp. These include Dasymutilla coccineohirta 

 (Blake) and the following sarcophagids : Metopia leucocephala (Rossi), 

 Amobia floridensis (To^vnsend), and Senotainia trilineata (Van der 

 Wulp). This is the most extensive report on the biology of a single 

 species of Cerceris. 



Wasbauer (1957, p. 131) published a brief note on the biology of 

 C. athene Banks (= C. femurrubrum athene Banks) at Mecca, 

 Riverside Co., Calif. The prey taken by this wasp was a tenebrionid 

 {Eurymetopon rujipes Eschscholtz) . It is significant that C. macro- 

 sticta Viereck and Cockerel!, also belonging to Group IV, is known to 

 coUect Tenebrionidae in Colorado and Arizona. From Wasbauer's 

 observations it was found that C. athene Banks is the female of C. 

 femurrubrum Viereck and CockereU (see p. 436). 



Werner (1960, pp. 43-44) published his observations on a nest of 

 Cerceris truncata Cameron found nesting in his own yard. This wasp 



