IV. SOME FLY-CATCHERS. 



. (a.) Monedula Carolina, Drury, The Big Fly Catcher. 



•: Monedula Carolina is our largest digger-wasp with the exception 

 oi Ammophila procera. But the caterpillar-wasp looks comparatively 

 weak, being slender, while the big fly-catcher has a most formidable 

 appearance on account of her bulk and the warning yellow stripes 

 of her abdomen. In the hot months of the year the wasp is often 

 met with in search of prey or digging her nest in the sand, where she 

 cuts a conspicuous figure. You cannot proceed far through the 

 woods before one of the big fellows will come flying toward you 

 with the loud threatening buzz of a bumble-bee. The wasp will fly 

 around you to examine you on all sides, keeping her face turned to- 

 ward you and as you advance, she will advance with you flying back- 

 ward before you. This backward flight of Monedula, almost unique 

 among insects, recalls the habit of the South African wasp, cited 

 by .the Peckhams, which is said to fly backward before a moving 

 horse and catch the flies hovering over it. On the authority of a 

 friend of mine, I can say the same for Monedula, which often fol- 

 lowed his ox-team, picked off the flies and ''buried" them in the 

 ground. I have myself seen as many as three carolinas around a 

 horse or cow at the same time and there can be no doubt that they 

 do not hover around for curiosity's sake merely. 



; M. Carolina spends three or four days digging her nest. The first 

 two days she applies herself assiduously for hours at a time and will 

 scrape out an astonishing pile of sand. Her working hours are, 

 however, extremely irregular, especially on the third and fourth 

 days. She may return to her nest at any time of the day, taking 

 an hour or two for recreation in the midst of her work. I have seen 

 her begin her nest in the morning before any digger-wasp was astir, 

 work several hours with diligence- and then close the nest and fly 

 away, perhaps not to return again for work until late the next 

 afternoon after Bembex tex. had retired or was playing hide and 

 seek among the nests of her colony. Carolina is, moreover, least 

 susceptible to the influences of the weather ; f or^ while other digger- 

 wasps will lie listlessly about on a cloudy day or sip nectar from the 

 flowers, she may be as busy as ever. 



Like the La Plata species, Monedula punctata, Monedula Carolina 



