51 



Digger Wasps. 



Not only does our locust suiter irom the attacks of dipterous 

 parasites, but large numbers annually perish from the attacks 

 of different kinds of digger-wasps of which there are many 

 species here in the Republic. One of these wasps in particu- 

 lar, a moderately large black-and-red insect, is a noted enemy 

 of the locust since it seems to employ them only as nourishment 

 for its young, it uses both saltonas and voladoras for this 

 purpose. 



As a cat pounces upon its pre}', so does this wasp spring 

 upon its victim. After stinging so as to paralize it the wasp 

 carries its captive to some suitable spot and buries it along 



Fig. 1(). — i-)igi;ei- Wasp. 



with an egg of its own. This egg soon hatches out a footless 

 grub that proceeds to eat the locust which still lives in a semi- 

 torpid condition. "When the larval wasp is full-grown it spins 

 a silken cocoon and remains in the ground till the following 

 spring to issue forth upon conquests of its own. If the migratory 

 locust does not happen to be present in the region, this wasp 

 is satisfied to supplj^ its young with some native "grasshopper" 

 instead. 



So rapacious is this w'asp that it occasionally rushes in 

 among a group of full-grown saltonas, and pouncing upon one 



