( xli ) 



legs move a little, but its soft body is paralysed, and lies 

 collapsed, flabby, and powerless. . . . When the wasp has 

 sufficiently rested after the struggle, it deliberately drags the 

 disabled spider back into its own hole, and, having packed it 

 away at the extremity, lays an egg alongside of it, then, 

 coming out again, gathers dust and rubbish with which it 

 fills up and obliterates the hole. ..." 



Observations on Fossors in East Africa by Dr. 

 G. D. H. Carpenter. — Prof. Poulton said that an observa- 

 tion recorded in a letter written to him Jan. 18, 1917, by 

 Dr. Carpenter, threw further light on the storing of Hesperidae 

 by Bemhecides : — 



" Yesterday (on a journey from Ndala, 33° 15' E., 4° 45' S., 

 to my new post Igalula, on the Central Railway, about 40 

 miles E. of Tabora) I had such an interesting observation of 

 a Bembex that I write post haste to tell you. I was catching 

 Skippers on mud on the road (and had. got several of a beautiful 

 species, bright golden brown, with the hind-wing below 

 marked with a number of whitish radiating streaks [Oxypalpus 

 harona, Westw., = ruso, Mab.]. This I had never seen 

 before; also a large and wonderful white species [Leuco- 

 chitonea hindei, H. H. Druce] which I took at first for a small 

 Belenois, among which it was drinking. These will come by 

 the next box. To return to our muttons) and suddenly saw 

 an unmistakable Bembex flying round my legs, on which 

 sat, and bit, numbers of G. morsitans, Tabanus, and Haema- 

 topota (indeed, I had been bitten so much that I was quite 

 jumpy !). I naturally thought the Bembex was after these, 

 though she was not of the species that I have often seen 

 come round me looking for fat Glossina or Tabanus. She 

 was large, greenish yellow, with a transverse black band 

 across each abdominal segment. After buzzing around for 

 a bit (the hum was the characteristic Bembex hum, which is 

 of a tone different from that of other Hymenoptera, or Asilidae, 

 whose buzz is equally characteristic) she hung in the air a 

 few inches above a Lycaenid, quietly drinking on the mud, 

 and pounced on it. I couldn't see exactly what happened, 

 but the Lycaenid was dropped, and the Bembex moved away 

 to where a Skipper was also drinking, and hung poised over 



