158 BRITISH APHIDES. 



J. 0. Westwood, ' Introduct.,' &c., vol. ii, pp. 125, 

 153, 173. 



' Brit. Museum Cat. of Chalcidi^e,' 1853. 



Eev. 0. Morris, ' Third Cat. Brit. Chalcidi^,' 1865. 



F. Walker, ' Notes on Chalcidi^e,' with figures, 1871. 



By the same, " Economy of Chalcidice," ' Entomo- 

 logist' for 1873. 



Aphidivorous Fossorial Crabronid^. 



The insects of this group of the Aculeate Hymeno- 

 ptera are placed by Prof. Westwood first on the list of 

 Fossores. 



General remarks on their specific characters, and in 

 some cases on their economy, have been furnished by 

 Linneus, Latreille, Panzer, and others ; but the peculiar 

 habit shown by some genera of preying on Aphides, 

 and storing them in their nests, was first perhaps 

 shown by our countryman, J. Curtis. Nees ab E sen- 

 beck, W. E. Shuckard (a former librarian of the Royal 

 Society), A. Kennedy, and Dr. J. Giraud, of Paris, have 

 since added to our knowledge of this group. 



These insects cannot fairly be regarded as parasitic, 

 for their eggs are not deposited within the bodies of 

 other insects. The latter are simply captured and 

 stored for the use of their young during their larval 

 condition. 



On the other hand, if an egg be fixed on, or inserted 

 into, the body of a living animal, the aggressor clearly 

 must be regarded as a true parasite. 



St. Fargean, more than thirty years ago, described 

 the attack of a Pompilus upon Targenaria domestica, a 

 species of spider, and in a graphic manner showed that 

 the sting is used to numb and paralyse its prey with- 

 out producing immediate death. 



Such a procedure obviously would much facilitate a 

 removal of the insect prey to its own nest, by prevent- 

 ing all inconvenient struggles to get free.* 



* ' Hist. Nat. de Int. Hym.,' tome 2, p. 580, Paris, 1S41.— St. Far. 



