134 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 52. 



BICYRTES QUADRIFASCIATA Say. 



In the course of my investigations I discovered two nests of 

 Bicyrtes quadrifasciata — one at Sandusky, Ohio, and the other at 

 Great Falls, Maryland. In both instances my attention was drawn 

 to the insect by the loud, humming noise she makes as she approaches 

 her nest with her victim. Unlike ventralis, which species flies hither 

 and thither over the nesting area in search of her burrow, quadri- 

 fasciata, when she arrives in the vicinity of her nest, poises in the air 

 several feet above the ground and, while making the humming noise 

 referred to, slowly and steadily descends directly to the entrance to 

 the burrow. The nest at Sandusky contained two bugs, nymphs of 

 a species of Nerarra, of which both were paralyzed, and upon one, 

 evidently the first brought in, the egg was placed in the same fashion 

 as that noted for ventralis. At Great Falls the wasp was taken at 

 the entrance to her nest as she was about to enter with her first 

 victim. 



BICYRTES, species? 



Hartman, in his paper cited above, reports upon two species of 

 Bicyrtes that were identified for him as Berribidula parata Provancher 

 and Berribidula pictifrons Smith. I am strongly of the opinion that 

 we have here another case of misidentification. Bicyrtes (Bembidula) 

 parata Provancher was described from California and I have not 

 seen a single specimen of this species from Texas. I suspect that 

 the observations reported by Hartman for parata refer either to 

 capnoptera Handlirsch or to my new species, annulata. With regard 

 to the second species, B. pictifrons Smith, no such species, so far as I 

 am aware, was ever described. It is possible that the man who 

 determined the specimen may have meant to write Monedula picti- 

 frons Smith instead of Bembidula pictifrons, but the character of the 

 observations indicates that the species in question" belongs to the 

 genus Bicyrtes. It is to be hoped that the specimens on which these 

 determinations were based may yet be located and the identity of 

 the species so carefully observed and reported upon may be posi- 

 tively established. 



MICROBEMBEX MONODONTA Say. 



The data, on which is based the following discussion of the biology 

 of Microbembex monodonta Say, were obtained between June 17 and 

 July 25, 1913, at the Lake Laboratory of the Ohio State University 

 located at Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio. This strip of land is a 

 great sand-bar more or less sparsely covered with vegetation. In 

 the immediate vicinity of the Lake Laboratory the surface is very 

 irregular, due to the shifting of the sand by the wind, and on the 

 bottoms and sides of these " blow-outs," where vegetation is exceed- 

 ingly scarce, these wasps nest in countless numbers. They prefer 



