306 



PSYCHE. 



[November 1895. 



In this species {albopilosiifii) tlie 

 male does not always come out of the 

 nest when the female brings a spiiler. 

 Perhaps the nest is enough larger than 

 in rulirocinctum to accommodate them 

 both comfortably. As a usual thing, 

 however, he enters on the back of the 

 female. The spiders brought by albo- 

 filosuin are larger than those used by 

 rubrocinctu7n. They sometimes bring 

 such heavy specimens oi Epei'ia insul- 

 aris that they are carried with difficult}', 

 the wasp aligliting and dragging the 

 spider into the hole instead of flying 

 directly in, as usual. 



Mr. VV. H. Ashmead has noted that 

 albopilosum stores its nest with aphides 

 but in the cases that we observed they 

 used only spiders. There can be no 

 mistake on this point as we more than 

 once took the spider from the wasp as 

 she was entering the nest. In a recent 

 letter Mr. Ashmead says that his notes 

 were made in the field, and that it was 

 probably a case of mistaken identity on 

 his part. 



We sometimes found the parasitic 

 Melittobia fly in the nests of ritbrocinc- 

 tiim, and from two nests we reared the 

 common fly Pachyophthaliiiiis aiiri- 

 frons. 



We do not know how many nests 

 are stored by the female in one season, 

 nor the length of time taken in the 

 development of the young. Two nests, 

 sealed up on June 30 and July i are at 

 the present time, August 31, still un- 

 opened. 



The interest of the wasps in family 

 affairs seems to flag in the second week 

 of August and we saw no new nests 

 started after the fifteenth, so that it is 

 probable that after that time the hard 

 working little creatures enjoy a well 

 earneti holiday on the blossoms of the 

 aster and the golden rod. 



We are under many obligations to 

 Mr. W. H. Ashmead for his kindness 

 in naming for us both the wasps and 

 their parasites. His name is a suffi- 

 cient guarantee for the correctness of 

 the identification. 



THE LARVA OF HARRISINA CORACINA CLEMENS. 



BY HARRISON G. DYAR, NEW YORK, N. Y. 



Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell h<is sent me larvae 

 of .1 H;irrisina found on Vitis vinifera at 

 Las Cruces, New Mexico. Mr. Cockerell 

 takes the moth of H. coracina commonly on 

 the same vines, and also a few H. metallica ; 

 but he does not tliink that these are the 

 larvae of the latter, as they are so much more 

 rare. With this conchision I agree, as the 

 larvae differ too much from our H. ameii- 

 cana to be those of the closely allied H. 

 metallica. 



Larva. Shaped as H. americann, thick, 

 flattened, the head retractile. Yellow; cer- 

 vical shield, warts on joint 2, a band on 

 joint 3 covering the three upper warts and 

 the two lower ones also black ; a band on 

 joint 4 and on 5 to wart vi ; a band on joints 

 6, 8, 10, II and 12 to the spiracle and the 

 anal plate black, including the short hairs. 

 Purple patches extend between the bands on 

 joints 5 and 6, running forward to cover the 

 lateral area of joint 4 to the band on that 



