46 Some Solitary Wasps of Texas. 



and can scarcely pierce one's skin. The resemblance to the ant is 

 moreover very much heightened by the transparency of the wings, 

 by which these are rendered almost invisible. In fact, the first 

 specimen I saw I at first did not distinguish from the dozens of 

 ants in whose company it was running over the ground. My eye 

 was attracted by a peculiar object lying on the ground, which proved 

 to be a legless spider, and with so many ants running around, I 

 knew that the spider could not have been lying there very long. 

 Presently indeed, the wasp disclosed her identity by making several 

 of her characteristic leaps of a foot or more from side to side, as 

 she approached the spider. She grasped it by an anterior coxa and 

 was about to make off with it, when, for lack of time to follow I 

 captured her. The spider not only had all of the legs removed, 

 but one of the palps as well. It was a large Epeirid, an immense 

 load for the little wasp. 



The second specimen of this Agenia which came my way was the 

 most skilful acrobatic performer I ever saw. She was carrying an 

 Attid as long and much heavier than herself; but the load seemed 

 a feather's weight, for she carried it along so swiftly, so gracefully 

 and with so little apparent exertion. She was carrying this spider 

 in her mandibles and using her legs entirely for running up stems 

 and over leaves. It was her method of progressing to climb the 

 branches of weeds and bushes to their very tips, and then fly either 

 across to another branch or onto the ground as far as she could. 

 In this she resembled certain species of Pompilus, which, however, 

 diflier in climbing up stems and running on the ground backwards 

 instead of forward. Every movement of Agenia was as certain as 

 it was swift, for she never missed her aim in flying from branch 

 to branch. Her descent even was easy and graceful and she came to 

 the ground as lightly as a feather. Thus for a time she chased 

 on from bush to bush, climbing up the stems and descending to 

 the other side. Suddenly our pleasure came to naught by the in- 

 terposition of the suspending thread of an Agelina web. In these 

 the two were caught, the Attid sticking fast and the wasp escaping. 

 Nor did the wasp ever return, for I left the spider over night and 

 during the next morning finding it still on the same spot the fol- 

 lowing noon. The spider had all the legs cut off except the anterior 

 right; the palpi were present. 



I have seen this species out hunting on several occasions and 

 have found her to be a most thorough hunter. All her motions 



