The Aculeate Hymcnoi)tcra of Barraclqwrc. 113 



and is very often met with sunning itself on the trunks 

 of peepul trees. I have found it occasionally in this 

 situation busily engaged with the workers of >S'M?i« rufo- 

 nigra, picking them up with its mandibles and tossing 

 them off the tree, but with a sporting air rather than any 

 serious or deadly purpose, for the ants were never in the 

 least injured. 



Bhinoiisis ruficornis, Cam. — A rare species, only found 

 frequenting the nests of Sima rvj'onigra, which it very 

 closely mimics. For some years I had visited a particular 

 nest of Simci rufonigra in the hope of finding the male, 

 and at last I was rewarded with what at first sight looked 

 like an undoubted $. I eagerly captured it ; it was not 

 an ant at all, but something even more interesting, a clever 

 case of mimicry by a sand- wasp. I also found Bhinoijsis 

 at a second nest, and Mr. Wroughton at a later date, on 

 discovering Sima rufonigra in the Konkan, found its 

 understudy in a similar species, Bhino'jisis constanceii\ Cam., 

 in considerable numbers, a most convincing proof that this 

 mimicry is genuine, and in no way accidental. The double 

 mimicry by Bhinopsis and Sa.Uicus of a fierce and exception- 

 ally armed ant appears to me to be specially interesting. 



Gastrosericibs rothneyi, Cam. ; G. hinghami, Cam. ; Nysson 

 rugosns, Cam. ; N. crgtliro'poda, Cam. ; Gorytcs amatorius, 

 Smith ; G. pidus, Smith, were all taken in a bank of fine 

 earth in a little lane near Pulta, so shaded with dense 

 jungle that at noon in the hottest weather it was like 

 twilight and almost cool. 



Bcnibex lunata, Fab. — A rare species. A small colony 

 found in the sandy bank of a nullah at Pulta. 



Bembcx trepanOxi, Dbm. — Common in the rains in the 

 low jungle about Pulta. 



Bemhcx hudclha, Handl.— Found in the hot weather on 

 sandy patches 'of ground about Pulta. 



Cerceris. — Found most commonly during the rains on 

 flowers. A nullah between Barrackpore racecourse and 

 Pulta overgrown with jungle, vegetation, and flowers was 

 especially rich in this genus. 



Buvienes conica, Fab. — One of the commonest and most 

 familiar of Indian Aculeates, building its nests in verandahs 

 and any other convenient spot, provisioning them with an 

 abundant store of caterpillars, mostly geometers. 



Bhynchiuvi hasiiiiacala, Cam. — A rare species, but one 

 that lends a zest to collecting, as you can never be quite 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 19U3. — PART I. (APRIL) 8 



