PSYCHE. 



THE HABITS OF THE ACULEATE HYMENOPTERA— I. 



BY WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



[Annu;ll address of the retiring president of the Cambridg;e Entomological Club, i a January, 1S94.] 



The subject of my address is one that 

 has been rarely touched by American 

 entomologists, although offering one 

 of the most attractive and richest fields 

 for research and discover)-, as connected 

 with it are many problems of biologic 

 and philosophical importance, which if 

 solved, would throw much light upon 

 many of the moted questions of the day 

 — evolution of species, development of 

 sexes, specialization of organs, trans- 

 mission of acquired characters, adapta- 

 bility to environment, etc. 



The first American to publish any- 

 thing on the subject was John Bartram, 

 who published several articles : the first 

 entitled "An account of some curious 

 wasp-nests made of clay," was published 

 as early as 1745 (Phil, trans., vol. 43, 

 pp. 363-36S) ; the second. "A descrip- 

 tion of the great black v/asp of Penn." 

 (1. c, vol. 46, 1750, pp. 37S-3S0) ; the 

 third, "On the Yellow wasp of Penn." 

 (r'c.,~vol.^53, 1763, pp. 57-39). 



This last paper is of the deepest in- 

 terest as it evidently refers to the habits 

 of a Bembecid, and the accounts of 

 which, now after over a century and a 

 quarter, have only recently been con- 

 firmed, in Europe, by the observations 

 of Fabre and Wesenberg on a similar 

 fossorial wasp, Bembex rostrata Fabr. 



From John Bartram to our next 

 writer, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who 

 wrote a paper entitled ''Two species of 

 the Sphex or wasp found in Virginia 

 and Penn." (Phil, soc, vol. 6, 1S09, p. 

 73) is an unbroken period of nearly half 

 a century. Tlien we have a period of 

 longer or shorter intervals, with con- 

 tributions from Thomas Say, Dr. T. W. 

 Harris, F. W. Putnam, Dr. Lincecnm, 

 Dr. A. S. Packard, Wm. Couper, Ben- 

 jamin D. Walsh, Prof. C. V. Riley, 

 E. Baynes Reed, L. O. Howard, 

 Frederick V. Coville, Charles Robert, 

 son, C. L. Marlatt, and Dr. A. 

 Davidson. 



It is now, I believe, alinost univer- 

 sally conceded by all students, who 

 have given any study at all to the acule- 

 ate Hymenoptera, that among them are 

 to be found the most specialized, highly 

 developed and intelligent insects. In 

 fact, the marvellous intelligence exhib- 

 ited by many of the species in this order, 

 in their social habits, the structure of 

 their nests, care of their young, etc., has 

 from time immemorial attracted the 

 attention of man, and in both ancient 

 and modern literature many allusions 

 to them mav be found. 



It is surprising, therefore, that so 

 many centuries have past and so little 



