The Method of the Ammophilae 



differ so greatly from the others in external 

 structure, exactly as I have described them 

 in the case of the Grey Worm, which is of 

 the ordinary form. Two species, the Silky 

 Ammophila {A. holoserica, FAB.) and 

 Jules' Ammophila,^ affect this curious prey, 

 which moves with the stride of a pair of 

 compasses. The first, often renewed under 

 glass during the greater part of August, has 

 always refused my offers; the second, her 

 contemporary, has, on the contrary, promptly 

 accepted them. 



I present Jules' Ammophila with a slen- 

 der, brownish Looper which I caught on the 

 jasmine. The attack is not slow in coming. 

 The caterpillar is grabbed by the neck: 

 lively contortions of the victim, which rolls 

 the aggressor over and drags her along, 

 now uppermost, now undermost in the strug- 

 gle. First the thorax is stung, in its three 

 rings, from back to front. The sting lingers 

 longest near the throat, in the first segment. 

 This done, the Ammophila releases her vic- 

 tim and proceeds to stamp her tarsi, to po- 



1 See in the first volume of the Souvenirs entomolo- 

 giques what I mean by this denomination. — Author's 

 Note. 



The author's description of Ammophila Julii, H. FAB., 

 will be found, in the English translation of the Souvenirs, 

 in The Hunting Wasps: appendix D. — Translator's Note. 

 303 



