Some Solitary Wasps of Texas. 47 



betokened the greatest excitement. In her quick fli/<lit from place 

 to place, she strikingly reminds one of Agenia acapta, the second 

 species, which darts around like lier lighter cousin of the post-oak 

 woods. I saw the first specimen on October 21pt. Walking along 

 the street, I chanced upon her as s-'he dropped a large Attid among 

 a stream of ants passing back and forth. She flew up as I drew 

 near and I used the interval of her absence to examine the spider, 

 which had all the legs amputated, though it was allowed to retain 

 its palps. 



Soon the wasp returned, grasped the spider by a coxal joint and 

 carried it several feet further to the edge of a crevice in the ground. 

 She then backed in, took hold of the spider and drew it down after 

 her. Now came a test of patience which I failed to stand. After 

 waiting three and three-fourths hours, I concluded that the wasp 

 had escaped me, for I was used to quicker work of digging and 

 storing a nest in sandy soil. I therefore dug down and found the 

 crevice two inches deep, from the bottom of which the wasp had 

 dug, almost vertically down, a nest one-fourth inch in diameter and 

 three inches deep. Here I caught her, but failed to find the spider, 

 which had possibly been left somewhere in the crevice. 



The other specimen I saw was again advancing with its spider 

 where foraging ants were numerous. In fact, as I followed her, 

 she suddenly disappeared with her victim in a deserted entrance to 

 the ant-nest. In this case the spider, as far as I could make out, 

 had lost but one of its appendages. 



It has not been my own good fortune to witness the amputation 

 of a spider's legs by an Agenia but I here report the observation 

 of my friends Messrs, Julius Eggling and E. Jaeger on this operar 

 tion as it was related to me. A. accepta and her spider were the 

 centre of the quarter hour's excitement. The spider, a large gray 

 Attid, was resting on a fence post when the wasp flew at it and 

 administered the sting. To tell just how this was done was ask- 

 ing the observers too much. In an instant the victim was limp and 

 helpless and the wasp immediately cut off one of the spider's legs, 

 the shreddy bark of the cedar post affording the wasp a pretty firm 

 foothold. The spider thereupon fell to the ground but the wasp 

 soon found it again and proceeded to carry it off. The spider's 

 legs, however, interfered with her walking, for, as I have observed 

 above, Agenia straddles her victim and advances forwards. The 

 wasp dropped her burden and set to work to cut off with her man- 



