64 



Messrs. Swezey and Bridwell have observed Nesoniitnesa an- 

 tennata (Smith) in the mountains of Oahn where it was catch- 

 ing Oliarus, a native leaf hopper of the family Cixiidae, and 

 Perkins in Fauna Hawaiiansis speaks of the unsuccessful ef- 

 forts of N. liawaiiensis to catch Fulgoroid leafhoppers. In a 

 shady gully at Pahala, I have seen Loth Nesomimesa and 

 Pipunculus (a fly which parasitizes the cane leaf-hopper) 

 searching the fronds of tree-ferns, and more than once the 

 wasp pounced upon the moult-skins of Siphanta acuta Walker, 

 a large green leaf hopper, immature specimens of which as 

 well as a smaller species of leafhopper occurred on these 

 ferns. But where the cane leafhopper is to be obtained, both 

 wasp and fly have transferred their attention to it in such a 

 measure that they are often more abundant in the cane fields 

 than in their native forest. 



Nesomimesa usually hunts on the wing for her prey, but it 

 cannot be said that she is a particularly good searcher, nor 

 always adept at catching hoppers, and she is sometimes de- 

 ceived by a cast-skin or a mouldy hoppei-. As a rule mature 

 leafhoppers form her prey and Avhat small proportion of young 

 I have found in the cells were well grown. ^N^ot every grown 

 hopper is suitable, for some reason many may be passed up 

 by the wasp. Making her choice of victim she may poise a 

 few inches before the PerlnnsieUa and make a dash at it, if 

 successful, picking it ofl^ the cane with her jaws and legs. 

 Or she may alight on a leaf and locating her victim nearby 

 between leaf bases, with the aid of her wings, pounce upon it 

 at close quarters. On several occasions I sa^v the wasp sting 

 the hopper. Shortly after the latter is captured, the ^vasp 

 turns it underside uppermost, and holding it thus in her mid- 

 dle pair of legs, doubles up her abdomen and stings it in the 

 neighborhood of the throat. The sting is administered more 

 than once and the act may be performed either wdien the wasp 

 is resting on a leaf with her prey or hovering in the air 

 with it. 



The wasp easily flies homeward with her quieted victim, 



