474 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



these marks are somewhat variable. The thorax is round, with 

 a beautifully rich pile like dark brown velvet. 



Mr. Walsh gives a curious account of this insect, which is a 

 North American species. It usually stocks its burrows with 

 grasshoppers, and is called by the name of the Digger Wasp. 

 A correspondent, however, who sent him specimens of the 

 Digger Wasp, states that the insect is known in Texas as the 

 Horse Guard, because it is always flying about the horses, 



Fig. 253.— Stizus speciosus. Female. 

 (Black and yellow. 



seizing upon the flies that annoy them, and carrying them off 

 to the burrow. Mr. Walsh thinks that there may be some error 

 in this account, and that the insect which really does catch and 

 store up the horse-flies is a species of Bembex which much 

 resembles the Stizus. 



Six species of Stizus are found in America, one of which, 

 SHzus grandis, stocks its burrows with Cicadas instead of 

 grasshoppers. 



Ouu last example of the Nyssonidae is Exeirus latcritus, a fine 

 insect from Australia. This was first described by Mr. Shuckard 

 in 1836, and the whole account maybe found in the Transactions 

 of the Entomological Society for that year. The general colour 

 of the insect is black, but the head is yellowish red, sprinkled 



