More Hunting Wasps 



would seem to Indicate, ventures inland, 

 even as far as my part of the country, where 

 it represents perhaps a survivor of the 

 coastal flora of what was once a Pliocene 

 sea. The sea has disappeared; a few plants 

 of its shores have remained behind. 

 This Silene carries in most of its internodes, 

 in those both of the branches and of the 

 main stalk, a viscous ring, two- to four-fifths 

 of an inch wide, sharply delimited above 

 and below. The coating of glue is of a 

 pale brown. Its stickiness is so great that 

 the least touch is enough to hold the object. 

 I find Midges, Plant-lice and Ants caught in 

 it, as well as tufted seeds which have blown 

 from the capitula of the Cichoriaceae. A 

 Gad-fly, as big as a Bluebottle, falls into the 

 trap before my eyes. She has barely 

 alighted on the perilous perch when lo, she 

 is held by the hinder tarsi ! The Fly makes 

 violent efforts to take wing; she shakes the 

 slender plant from top to bottom. If she 

 frees her hinder tarsi she remains snared by 

 the front tarsi and has to begin all over 

 again. I was doubting the possibility of her 

 escape when, after a good quarter of an 

 hour's struggle, she succeeded in extricating 

 herself. 



But, where the Gad-fly has got off, the 

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