Vol. XXVIII. 



igii 



1 Hardy, The Stinging of G. coarciata by D. hicolor. 



THE STIXGING OF GRYLLOTALPA COARCTATA BY 



DIAMMA BICOLOR. 



By a. D. Hardy, F.L.S. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, loth Apn7, 191 1.) 



Venturing out of my selected sphere of study, I ask for the 

 indulgence of entomological members, on whose field I am 

 trespassing, in order that I may offer some notes that seem 

 to me to be of interest to students of the Hymenoptera and 

 (though to a less extent) of the Orthoptera. 



Of the great amount of literature dealing with bees, ants, 

 and wasps, &c., we have on our own shelves the " Cambridge 

 Natural History — Insects," parts i. and ii., by Sharpe, in 

 which, in addition to the original matter, there are interesting 

 quotations from Fabre, the French savant, with reference to 

 the fossorial wasps ; and to this and the work charmingly 

 written by Dr. and Mrs. Peckham * T beg to refer you for both 

 instruction and entertainment. 



Foresters, graziers, market gardeners, orchardists, and 

 horticulturists are for the most part unaware of their great 

 indebtedness to the hymenopterous insects, and to the wasps 

 (with which are included those known as "hornets") in par- 

 ticular. The mature and generally winged insects usually feed 

 on nectar and fruit pulp ; but for the larvae, for the greater 

 part of their existence, a carnivorous diet is required. For 

 this supply there is a heavy tax on various insects, many of 

 which are inimical to the welfare of mankind. Locusts, 

 crickets, grylluses, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, caterpillars, 

 grubs, and beetles, and their larvae, &c., are destroyed in great 

 numbers 



We do not overwhelm the wasp with our friendship, 

 because of her well-known assertiveness and propensity 

 to go more than half-way to meet a quarrel, while re- 

 garding our unintentional interference \\ith her domestic 

 arrangements as obvious provocation ; but, if somewhat re- 

 served in our affections, we may at least be unstinting of our 

 respect. There appears to be less known of the " solitary," 

 fossorial or " burrowing," wasps than of the " social " 

 forms. The following is a quotation from Sharpe's reference 

 to the Scolidae : — " The members of this family, as far as is 

 known, display less perfect instincts than the Sphegidse and 

 Pompelida:^, but do not construct cells or form burrows. 

 Information as to their habits is confined to European forms. | 

 Again, under sub-family 3 — Thynnides : — " Very little is really 

 known as to their habits, though it has been stated that they 



* " Wasps, Social and Solitary," G. W. and E. G. Peckham (1905). 

 t " Cambridge Nat. Hist. — Insects," part ii. 



