HYMENOPTERA. — CRABRONIDA. 195 
holes in posts and straws in a thatch; placing them in cells separated 
from each other by a double partition of clay; a single egg being 
placed in each cell, attached to the abdomen of a spider, near the bot- 
tom of the cell. Sometimes as many as twelve or more spiders, if 
small, are placed in one cell. The female makes a buzzing noise 
when constructing the clay partitions. ‘Trypoxylon clavicerum is si- 
milar in its habits, but it does not leave any space between its cells. 
Mr. Shuckard also mentions that the former had been observed in the 
act of depositing a small round ball or pellet, containing about fifty indi- 
viduals of a species of Aphis, in a hole in a post, pre-occupied by an 
Odynerus ; but surely some error must have crept into this statement. 
(See further on the habits of this genus, Shuckard, Hssay, p. 116. ; 
St. Fargeau, Enc. Méth. tom. x. p. '750.; Curtis, B. EB. p.652.; and 
Thunberg, in Swedish Trans. 1808.) 
Pemphredon lugubris (P. unicolor Jur.), according to Latreille and 
Shuckard, provisions its nest with Aphides (and see Curtis, fol. 632.). 
The latter author states that he had never seen it make its own cell, 
but which he considered very probable, from the structure of its jaws ; 
and Mr. Kennedy states that P. lugubris Fad. burrows in decayed 
wood, and throws out the sawdust, depositing Aphides, which is also 
the case with P. unicolor Panzer. P. minutus, however, is found 
only upon sand: its anterior tarsi are simple, but the posterior tibiz 
are spined. PP. insignis is considered by Mr. Shuckard to be a 
parasite. 
Mr. Kennedy has published an account of the habits of Diodontus 
gracilis and corniger, both of which provide Aphides for the food of 
their progeny, carrying them in the mouth into cells in the holes of 
posts. He also discovered the cells of Stigmus troglodytes V. Z. in 
hollow straws of a thatch ; the cells being filled with minute insects, 
which appeared to be the larvee of a Thrips, as many as fifty being 
found in one cell. St. Fargeau, on account of the structure of the legs, 
considered this to be a parasitic genus. (Hine. Méth. tom. x. p. 493.) 
Ihave observed Mellinus arvensis burrowing in sand banks. Mr. 
Shuckard says that its prey consists of Diptera*, especially Muscide ; 
* Mr. Curtis attributes to the females of this genus an economy which has not 
been noticed in any other Fossorial Hymenoptera, namely, that of carrying dead flies 
to the young larve when hatched, for the latter to feed upon. He indeed records 
the observation, that he had observed a female Mellinus flying about with a large 
blue fly (probably Musca vomitoria), which it afterwards drew into its burrow, in 
OZ 
