92 THE SOLITARY WASPS. 



ing to hunt for it in different places. Sometimes slie would go 

 away for ten or fifteen minutes, and then reappear, still carry- 

 ing her bug, to resume her circlings, and it was not until we 

 had moved away to a distance of six or eight feet that she would 

 go in. This excessive timidity was in striking contrast, not 

 only to her former actions, but to the fearless conduct of the 

 small unicolor spoken of before. 



Of three bugs taken from unicolor as she brought them to her 

 nest, two were quite dead, and the third, which responded to 

 stimulation by a quivering of the tarsi and the antennae when 

 it was taken, died the next day. This bug and another which 

 was taken dead from the nest excavated on September third, had 

 parasitic larvse within them which emerged after having eaten 

 the softer parts, but died without spinning any cocoon. The 

 three bugs taken intact from the nest opened on September sixth 

 were all dead, although they had been carried in only the day 

 before. Sq that although the sting that unicolor gives her vic- 

 tims does not always kill at once, it proves fatal within a very 

 short time. 



Astata hicolor Say. 

 Plates L, fig. 4; IX., fig. 6. 



It was one o'clock in the afternoon on the sixteenth day of 

 August. The mercury was trying some experiments up among 

 the nineties and we knew from experience that the lower garden 

 was the hottest place for miles around, yet thither we turned 

 our steps without a moment's hesitation, possessed by the idea 

 that something might be going on in that wonderful spot and 

 we not there to see. 



Sheltered by our umbrellas from the burning sun we prom- 

 enaded up and down among the beans and potatoes scanning 

 every inch of ground. An hour passed and our enthusiasm 

 began to wane a little, yet we stayed on knowing that patient 

 effort is almost sure to bring a reward. Suddenly our attention 

 was arrested by a gleam of color. "Was it a fly, this brilliant 

 winged thing? Its actions awakened our interest; it had not 



