62 Some Solitary Wasps of Texas. 



as the one first made. In this six crickets had been stored, all of 

 which but one (which was dead) were not only alive but positively 

 lively. One, indeed, after I had dug out the nest, very nearly got 

 away from me. The smaller pocket contained but one large and 

 one small cricket, both very much alive. The larva in each case 

 had attached itself to the prosternum of the most active cricket and 

 curved around the body of its host, thus embracing it for better 

 protection. Larval americana does not eat any of the hard parts 

 of its viand, but reaches into the thorax, abdomen, head and legs 

 to procure the meat and suck the juices. After five days the older 

 larva (ca. six days old) had devoured its store of food while the 

 other had eaten but one large cricket. Both spun an imperfect 

 cocoon and soon died. 



Tachyles ahductiis (Fox), var. ? is a rather common Larrid in 

 this locality. The wasp is black and in the sunlight there is a 

 shimmer of bronze between the segments of the abdomen. The 

 species catches nymphal short horned grasshoppers, carrying them 

 closely pressed to her venter with her legs. She is to be admired 

 for the reluctance with which she betraj^s the whereabouts of her 

 nest. 



(b) Priononyx Thomae (Fabre), the Locust Killer. 



As late as October 9th, after her northern cousins had begun to 

 lose interest in the aJEfairs of life, Priononyx Thomae was as busy 

 as ever. My only specimen of this interesting wasp flew up from 

 her nest as I came down the well-worn path where she was at 

 work, A flash of red was all I saw at first; from this and from 

 the shape of the nest on which she was engaged, being a round hole 

 leading straight down, I was led to believe that the creature I had 

 disturbed was none other than Ammopliila. Priononyx soon re- 

 turned, however, and proved that she was an entirely new acquaint- 

 ance, though her subsequent actions clearly showed that both she 

 and Ammophila had inherited mental traits from the same not 

 very distant ancestors. She is more stoutly built than A. proccra, 

 is smaller and is black with the exception of her abdomen which is 

 bright red in color. 



A faster worker never lived than P. Tomae. But her speed 

 is due to a deliberate haste and not to the insane, wasteful hurry that 

 seems to characterize the actions of many species of Pompilus. At 

 1:30 she returned to her burrow which she had dug down to the 



