The Buprestis-hunting Cerceris 



beyond the bounds of probabiHty, showed 

 me underground, within a small radius, 

 Buprestis fasciata by the thousand, whereas, 

 during the thirty years and upwards that I 

 have been studying the entomology of this 

 district, I never discovered a single one in 

 the open. 



" Once only, perhaps twenty years ago, I 

 found the abdomen of this insect, together 

 with its wing-cases, stuck in a hole in an old 

 oak. This fact was illuminating. By in- 

 forming me that the larva of Buprestis 

 fasciata must live in the wood of the oak, it 

 completely explained why this Beetle is so 

 common in a district which has none but oak- 

 forests. As Cerceris bupresticida is rare in 

 the clay hills of such districts, as compared 

 with the sandy plains thickly planted with the 

 maritime pine, it became an interesting ques- 

 tion to know whether this Wasp, when she 

 inhabits the pine country, victuals her nest 

 in the same way as in the oak country. I had 

 a strong presumption that this was not the 

 case; and you will soon see, not without sur- 

 prise, what exquisite entomological discrim- 

 ination our Cerceris displays in her choice of 

 the numerous species of the genus Buprestis. 



" We will therefore hasten to the pine 

 7 



