42 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



Again, however, it is the introduced kinds the hive bees, 

 humble bees, and flies which are most abundant in 

 individuals if not in kind, or at least which are most 

 in evidence. 



II. 



I witnessed recently in the garden a domestic tragedy 

 on the small scale such as may often be seen at this time 

 of the year a spider-hunting wasp dragging a victim over 

 the ground to its hole. People frequently ask if we have 

 wasps in New Zealand. There are certainly no species 

 of the genus Vespa, to which the European wasps and 

 hornets belong, but we have wasp-like insects active 

 restless creatures, loving the sunshine, and armed with 

 a sufficiently formidable sting which are often to be seen 

 in the summer, especially on bright hot days. Several 

 species occur in this neighbourhood, and two are common 

 enough. The larger species* a dangerous-looking insect 

 about an inch long is to be seen frequently in wooded 

 valleys as if it were fond of warm sheltered spots ; the 

 more common one+ met with in my garden is the smaller 

 form, not more than half an inch in length. It is a most 

 restless insect, often lighting down on the ground or on 

 a stone as if to take a survey of the game in the neighbour- 

 hood . When it sees a hapless spider it instantly attacks 

 it ; .springing on its back and curling round its alxlomen it 

 stings its prey right va the middle of the thorax. The 

 spider is not killed, but it is thus completely paralysed, and 

 4 dragged to the burrow of the wasp. This burrow is 

 sometimes in the ground, sometimes in a log. Into this 

 the wasp pushes a number of paralysed spiders, and when 

 the hole is sufficiently provisioned according to her ideas 

 she lays an egg in it. The wasp-larva as it develops 

 eats up its half dead companions, and presumably by 

 the time it has eaten them all up is ready to emerge 

 and start spider-hunting on its own account. This seems 

 a much superior device to either freezing or tinning one's 

 meat ; it certainly has the merit of being much older. It 



* Salius fiigax. t S. monachus. 



