THE // YMENOFTERA 



357 



small but in the South arc forms which are nearly an inch long and stout- 

 bodied. 



In another family of this group one species known as the Tarantula- 

 killer (Fig. 375) digs nests which it stores with tarantulas, the large hairy 



Fig. 373. Fig. 374. 



Fig. 373. — A male Mutillid (Traumatomutilla colorata Gerst). About twice natural 

 size. {After Andre.) 



Fig. 374. — A female Mutillid (Ephuta occidcntalis L.), slightly enlarged. (After 

 Andre.) 



spiders of the South and Southwest where this insect is found. It is a 

 large and powerful wasp, about two inches long, but in its battles with 

 the tarantula it is not always the victor. 



Fig. 375. — Tarantula-killer (Pepsis marginata Fab.), somewhat reduced. {Original.) 



The insects of the family Eumenidse are very abundant in this 

 country. Most of them are rather small (Fig. 376), and black with yellow 

 markings seems to be the favorite color combination, as so frequently is 

 the case with the other groups of wasps. Some make burrows in the 



