462 INSECTS ABROAD. 



mostly caterpillars, but they often employ caterpillars, just like 



the Sand Wasps of our own land. 



It has been said that the Pelopjeus not only places a disabled 



insect in the cell occupied by its offspring, but continually adds 



fresh insects as those which are already within are devoured. 



Mr. West-wood, however, totally dissents from this opinion, on 



the ground that none but the 

 social Ilymenoptera feed the young 

 larvae. 



The accompanying illustration 

 depicts a South African species, Pc- 

 lopceus chalybeus. The specific name, 

 which signifies " blue," is given to 

 it because its whole body is of a 

 deep rich blue, very much like that 

 of the blue-bottle fly. The whole 

 of the head, thorax, and abdomen 

 are thickly and deeply punctured, 



Fio. 242.— Pclopsens chalybeus. , . n . -it,- i • -i 



(Shining blue.) which gives additional richness to 



the colouring. The wings are dark, 

 with a slight but decided blue gloss. The insect is shown as 

 standing upon its mud-built nest, the aperture which serves as 

 entrance into the last cell being seen towards the bottom. 



On Plate IX. Fig. 2 is seen the figure of an Australian 

 species, called Pelojicvus Icetus, flying towards the nest, which is 

 placed on the trunk of a tree. 



Although not so brilliant a species as the last, it is boldly 

 and prettily coloured. The general hue of the body is black, as 

 far as the end of the thorax, in the middle of which is a bold 

 oblong patch of yellow. From the end of the thorax to the 

 middle of the abdomen the colour is yellow. Then comes a 

 broad band of black, and the rest of the abdomen is yellow. 

 The antenna) arc also yellow, and there is a collar of the same 

 colour on the neck. 



It has been discovered that some species of the Pelopams are 

 parasitic creatures, affecting the nests of a solitary bee called 

 Pmmenes. That this is the fact has been proved by finding in 

 the nests of the Eumenes the cocoons of the Pelopams, which 

 axe almost exactly like those of the Ammophila which have 

 been already described. 



