264 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I4I 



Trirhogma sp. 



Natural hosts. — Cockroaches, Oriental region (Williams, 1918, 

 1928) : As far as is knovv'n species of this genus of wasps hunt cock- 

 roaches. 



Family SPHECIDAE 

 Tachysphex blatticidus Williams 



Natural hosts. — Chorisoneura sp., adults, Trinidad, St. Augustine 

 (Callan, 1942) : The wasps nest gregariously in sandy places. The 

 wasp itself is parasitized by the mutillid Timulla (Timulla) eriphyla 

 Mickel. 



Cockroaches, Trinidad (Williams, 1941a; Callan, 1950). 



Tachysphex coriaceus Costa 

 Natural hosts. — Cockroaches, Italy (Beaumont, 1954). 



Tachysphex fanuiensis Cheesman 



Natural hosts. — Graptoblatta notulata. Society Islands (Cheesman, 

 1927, 1928). 



Cockroach ("except for its smaller size [it] much resembles Grap- 

 toblatta notulata."), New Caledonia (Williams, 1945). 



Nesting sites. — Patches of dry soil (Cheesman, 1928) ; coarse sand 

 at base of a bank (Williams, 1945). BeJiavior. — The female wasp 

 pounces on the cockroach and stings it into immobility ; she carries her 

 prey in flight to the nest. Two to 13 cockroaches may be found in one 

 nest ; and one or more wasp eggs may be deposited in one nest. The 

 egg is attached at one end to the host's thorax behind a forecoxa. 

 Nest is sealed with dry pellets of soil. The cockroaches apparently do 

 not recover from the wasp's sting. 



Tachysphex lativalvis (Thomson) 



Natural hosts. — Ectobius lapponicus, adults, Sweden (Adlerz, 

 1906) ; France (Maneval, 1932). 



Ectobius pallidus, nymphs, France (Ferton, 1894, 1901 ; Maneval, 

 1932; Deleurance, 1946); Italy (Grandi, 1928). 



Ectobius panseri, Netherlands (Bouwman, 1914). 



Ectobius sp., Denmark (Nielsen, 1933). 



Ferton (1914) stated that he had reported in 1912 that this species 

 hunted Hemiptera, but that this observation was a lapsus. Nesting 

 site. — In the ground of sandy woodlot or border of dry woods; the 

 nest is a hole 5.5 to 8 cm. long ending in a horizontal cell. Grandi 

 (1928) stated that the entrance to the nest descended obliquely for 5 



