170 HYMENOPTERA. 



maxilkxj and lingua, and the antenna^ reach to the posterior coxa?. 

 The maxilhe are slender, not reaching to the tip of the labium. 



The female usually provisions her cells (Plate 5, Fig. 14) with 

 spiders. The cells are constructed of layers of mud of unequal 

 length, and formed of little pellets placed in two rows, and di- 

 verging from the middle. The}' are a little over an inch long, 

 and from a half to thi-ee-quarters of an inch wide, and are some- 

 what three-sided, the inner side next the object, either stone- 

 walls or rafters, to Avhich it is attached, being flat. As the 

 earthen cells sufficientl}' protect the delicate larvie within, the 

 cocoons are ver}^ thin, and brown in color. 



The cells of PeJojKeus flacipes from Brownville, Texas, col- 

 lected l\v an United States otficer and presented to the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, contained both spiders and niimer- 

 ous pupte of a fly, Sarcophaga nucUpennis Loew (MS) which is 

 somewhat allied to Tachina. These last hatched out in mid- 

 summer a few days before the specimens of Pelopai-us. It is 

 most probable that they were parasitic on the latter. These 

 specimens of P. flavipes were more highly ornamented with yel- 

 low than in those foimd northwards in the Atlantic States, 

 the metathorax being crossed by a broad j^ellow band. 



The genus Ammophila is a long slender form, with a petio- 

 late abdomen, the tip of which is often red. The petiole of the 

 abdomen is two-jointed, and very long and slender, being 

 longer than the fusiform part. In the males the petiole is in 

 some species much shorter. The wings are small, with the apex 

 more obtuse than usual ; the second subcostal cell is pentag- 

 onal, and the third is broadly triangular. 



"Westwood states that "the species inhabit sandy districts, 

 in which ^1. sabidosa forms its burrow, using its jaws in bur- 

 rowing ; and when they are loaded, it ascends backwards to 

 tiie mouth, turns quickly around, flies to about a foot's distance, 

 gives a siidden turn, throwing the sand in a complete shower 

 to about six inches' distance, and again alights at the mouth 

 of its burrow." 



''Latreille states that this species provisions its cells with 

 caterpillars, but Mr. Shuckard states that he has observed the 

 female dragging a verj^ large inflated spider up the nearly per- 

 pendicular side of a sand-bank, at least twenty feet high, and 



