ARTICULATA. I73 



generally ornamented with yellow spots. The common species of the 

 United States, S. sj)eciosus, Dnny, hills and carries off Cicada {pi. 80, fig. 

 7o)j)rHi>iosa, a large locust much larger than itself, the locust, during the 

 attack (if a male), making a great noise with its sounding organs. 



Fa//i. 12. Spliegidoi {pi. 1^, figs. 27, 28, 30, 31). Here the body is 

 elongated, the abdomen is attached by a lung slender jieduncle, and is 

 armed with a sting. The mandibles are slender and curved, and the feet 

 long, and generally fossorial. These insects are very active and restless, 

 running about dry places, or along water courses, keeping their wings in a 

 state of vibration. They suck the fluids of flowers, but the larvie are pro- 

 vided with animal food by the adult. Avimophila sahulosa {fig. 31), which 

 seems to inhabit the United States as well as Europe, digs a hole in sandy 

 places, and stores it with spiders for the young. PelopcBus {fig. 30). 1\ 

 flavipes., the mud-wasp of the United States, may be seen forming small balls 

 '■ of mud along water courses, especially where cattle are watered, as there is 

 no grass present, and the earth and water meet gradually and nearly on the 

 same level, so that the ground is generally made wet a few inches from the 

 margin by the capillary attraction and the small ripples. When the ball ot 

 mud (which is about an eighth of an inch in size) is ready, the wasp takes 

 it to its nest, which may be in a garret, or under the eaves of a house. 

 Here the nest is formed, a cell at a time, each afier the first one being 

 attached parallel with the preceding ones, and generally (perhaps always) in 

 a horizontal direction, or nearly so. Sometimes a space of three inches in 

 length will be covered by allowing successive cells to be attached side by 

 side, but in other cases not more than three will be attached (perhaps to the 

 lower side of a rafter), and the succeeding ones will be attached or sus- 

 pended to these until the mass assumes the form of an elongated sub-quadrate 

 prism attached by one end. In rare cases the nest is built upon the upper 

 surface of a rafter. The cells are filled with spiders for the larvsE, and then 

 closed with mud. The pupa is inclosed in a translucent yellow cocuon 

 resembling very thin oiled paper. Westwood (Introduction, ii. 207), judging 

 from observations made by W. W, Saunders, thinks that these construc- 

 tions are made by Emnenes ', but if the latter is concerned, it is probably 

 the parasite, or the PelopcBus may take a cell already formed in preference 

 to building one. The United States species of Ji'umene.s are not known to 

 enter houses, where Pelopceits is constantly seen, although they may both 

 be found in the same vicinity out of doors. 



Some authors separate Pompilus {figs. 27, 28), and some allied genera, 

 to form a separate family. 



Fain. 13. Scoltidce. Some authors divide this family into two portions 

 (considered sub-families by Westwood) of which Scolia and Sapyga are 

 the types. In the former the antennae are short and curled, and the feet 

 thick and spinose ; whilst in the latter the antennae are straight and long, 

 and the feet thin. The first contains some large species. The European 

 S. flavifrons deposits its eggs in cavities in the earth occupied by the larvrt 

 of the large Coleopter, Oryctes nasicoimis {pi. 81, fig. 115), upon which 

 it lives. 



377 



