206 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 
himself and Willughby, and which not only formed its cell in the 
earth, and buried a green caterpillar therein three times larger than 
itself, but afterwards carefully closed the hole by rolling in particles of 
sand and bits of stone. It was also observed to fly to a fir tree, as it 
seemed, to fetch a supply of resin to agglutinate the sand together, 
and it ultimately fetched two fir leaves, which it placed over the mouth 
of the burrow to mark the spot. 
The males are exceedingly ardent during their amours, seizing 
their partners round the neck with their sickle-shaped jaws. I have 
represented (fig. 83. 12.) the cocoon of A. sabulosa, dug out of a 
sand-bank at Coombe Wood, and presented to me by Mr. Ingpen. 
The insect had made its escape at the top, gnawing it open irregularly : 
it is of a white, slender, and papyritious texture, and encloses a second 
distinct cocoon of a similar nature, but lined with a shining brown 
substance. Réaumur’s pl. 28. fig. 8—11. represent the cocoon and 
larva of an insect, probably belonging to this family, having been found, 
“sous terre,” with remnants of flies.* But Réaumur seems to have 
mistaken the head of the larva for the tail (/ig. 83. 13. in a reversed 
position). 
The Pelopsi are for the most part exotic, and construct their 
nests in the corners of rooms, &c. consisting of several ranges of nu- 
merous cells of fine earth, the entrances to which are from beneath, 
each cell being surrounded by a spiral layer of earth. Drury, however, 
figures the nest as consisting of about a dozen cells, enveloped in a 
general case of mud, which does not exhibit any spiral arrangement, 
as figured by Réaumur. In each cell the insect places a green cater- 
pilar or spider, which is then closed, according to Palisot de Beauvois ; 
but according to Bonnet, the cells are revisited by the parent fly after 
the grub has consumed the enclosed food, in order to give it a fresh 
supply, and which is repeated until it has attained its full growth. 
Palisot de Beauvois and Drury have given accounts of the pro- 
ceedings of these insects (Idlust. Ins. Sphex cementaria, tom. i. p. 99., 
Pelop. lunatus Fab.), stating that spiders are deposited in the cells.+ 
(Seealso Disderi, in Turin Trans. vol. iii. (P. spirifex) ; Réaumur, 
* Réaumur states (tom. vi. p. 292.) that this larva “ devient une guépe ichneumon 
dont le corps tient au corselet par un long fil;” but in a preceding page (278.) he 
states that his larva had died, and that he regarded it as the larva of such insect 
upon the authority of Vallisnieri, (vol. i. pl, 3. fol.), where a similar cocoon and 
imago, answering to this description, had been figured. 
t In the nests observed by Mr. Saunders, caterpillars were stored up. 
