366 Professor E. B. Poulton 



Hymenoptera. 



Ichneumonidie .... 



AntJwpJdla {other^Anthophila '. 



Di2:iloptcTa ..... 



Fossores ..... 



Hctcrogyna ..... 



on 



3 

 12 

 5 

 S 

 4 

 5 



Total . . 32 



DiPTERA. 



\Prey a sp. different from captor . . 1 

 Syrphidm ........ 2 



Sarco'^haginx ....... 1 



Total . . 5 



Comparing this analysis with that of all the recorded 

 prey of Asilidm, we find no examples of I), diadema attack- 

 ing Orthoptera, Neuroptera, Homoptera, or Lepidoptera, 

 and only a single instance in which Hemipterous prey was 

 selected. Rather less than -Jr of D. diadema's captures 

 were selected from among the Coleoptera, and an equal 

 proportion from the Diptera. The great majority of the 

 victims, I of the whole, were Hymenopterous, and of 

 these about half belonged to the Anthophila. The 

 numbers of these latter are inflated by the abundance of 

 the hive-bee and probably by the fact that this artificially 

 protected species is extremely abundant in certain locali- 

 ties, and especially easy to capture. Probable evidence of 

 the comparative helplessness of the hive-bee is afforded 

 by the following considerations. The sexes are recorded 

 in 42 out of the 45 tabulated examples of this Asilid : 30 

 were females, 12 were males. The smaller weaker males 

 selected upon the whole smaller weaker victims than the 

 females. But in 3 cases out of the 12 the comparatively 

 large and heavy hive-bee worker was found in the 

 clutches of a male diadema. As regards the female also, 

 the 9 hive-bees were considerably larger than the average 

 of the other victims selected by this sex. (See also p. 362.) 



Tlie Courtslii2J of Dasypogon (Selidojwgon) diadema. 

 Only a single pair were observed in coitu, both male 



