344 



ODYNERUS (EDEMERIDE. 



gaudy in its attire, the large-billed thick-knee is a 

 very beautiful bird ; but it is one, with the manners of 

 which we have very little acquaintance. The wide 

 plains of Australia, which are its chief haunts, have 

 been very imperfectly explored ; and when the wea- 

 ther is sufficiently dry for visiting them with ease and 

 safety, they are so naked of herbage, that it is very 

 difficult to get near so vigilant and active a bird as a 

 thick-knee. 



O. longipes Long-Legged Thick- Knee is also an 

 Australian species, remarkable for the length of its 

 legs, and measuring twenty inches in length. The 

 sides of the neck are brown spotted with white. 

 The top ol th& head and the upper part of the neck 

 are grey with longitudinal lines of brown. A space 

 over the eyes, the throat, and the belly, are pure white ; 

 and the fore neck and breast white with longitudinal 

 lines of black. The quills are black, and the middle 

 tail feathers are grey with deeper bands of the same, 

 while the lateral ones are black with white bars. The 

 bill is black, and the naked parts of the feet brownish. 

 This is a handsome bird as well as the former, though 

 the extreme length of its legs give it rather a tottering 

 appearance. But notwithstanding this, it is both a 

 steady and a swift walker. The existence of two 

 species of birds, which are so characteristic of desert 

 countries, in Australia, is one strong evidence against 

 the chance of that great island containing any con- 

 siderable portion of fertile ground in the centre. 



O. maculatus Spotted Thick-Knee. This is an 

 African, rather larger than the common species, but 

 not so long as either of the Australians. Its length 

 is about a foot and a half. The upper parts of it are 

 russet-brown, spotted with blackish-brown, and the 

 small coverts of the wings are of the same colour, but 

 with white tips. A space round the eyes, the mus- 

 taches, the chin, and the throat are pure white. 

 The neck and breast are russet with longitudinal 

 black lines. The under parts are reddish-white, 

 streaked with black. The bill is black at the point 

 and yellow at the base, and the feet are yellow. 



It will be seen from this description, that this 

 African species much more resembles the common 

 species which migrate from Africa to Europe, than 

 it does the Australian ones ; while they again have a 

 nearer resemblance to each other. All the four species 

 have, however, a very strong family likeness, more 

 so than very many other birds with which we are 

 acquainted ; and there are no birds to which we can 

 say that any of them is very nearly allied in its 

 habits. 



ODYNERUS (Latreille). A genus of hymeno- 

 pterous insects, belonging to the family Vespidce, or 

 the wasps, and comprising the solitary species, or 

 those which do not congregate and form a common 

 nest. The abdomen is conic-ovate, and broadest at 

 the base ; and the terminal lobes of the mouth are 

 short. The species are of smaller size than the com- 

 mon wasp, which,, however, they resemble in colour, 

 being black, varied with yellow. The females con- 

 struct their nests in hot sand banks, the crevices of 

 walls, or in rotten wood. These burrows are several 

 inches deep, and of a cylindrical form ; the entrance 

 being defended, in some of the species at least, by a 

 curved entrance, formed of fine kneaded sand, which 

 the architect has brought up from the bottom of the 

 nest. In the interior, and at the foot of this retreat, 

 the female buries eight or ten caterpillars of the 

 same species and size, but varying in the different 



species ; they are arranged in a spiral direction, and 

 an egg is deposited in the midst, after which the 

 mouth is closed. The young, when hatched, devours 

 the inclosed caterpillars, which are just sufficient for 

 its support ; and then assumes the pupa state in a 

 cocoon of a slender papyritious texture, which it has 

 previously formed, and soon after becomes a perfect 

 insect, and makes its escape. There are about 

 twenty British species, but their specific characters 

 are liable to considerable variation, so that the genus 

 is very difficult of investigation. The type is the 

 Vespa muraria (Linnaeus). One of the largest species 

 is the Odynerus antilope. A Memoir upon the habits 

 of this species has been published in the Transactions 

 of the Entomological Society, from which the follow- 

 ing passage is extracted : The writer noticed seve- 

 ral specimens flying about, settling on a wall, and 

 creeping into the holes which abounded in the 

 rotten mortar. He observed one of the wasps fly 

 down with something held beneath the whole length 

 of its body, which it succeeded in carrying into its 

 burrow. Another soon appeared, which he endea- 

 voured to catch, in order to discover what the burthen 

 consisted of ; but the insect was too quick for him, 

 and, with that solicitude which marks all the pro- 

 ceedings of these creatures in the constructing and 

 provisioning their nests, it wheeled upwards to a 

 considerable height, and made a circuit of several 

 minutes' duration, and again attempted to reach the 

 hole, which he again prevented by unsuccessfully 

 attempting to knock it down with his handkerchief, 

 when it soared away, and did not again return. He 

 was, however, more fortunate with another, by allow- 

 ing it to settle on the wall, and caught it as it was 

 creeping with its prey into its burrow. This consisted 

 of the green caterpillar of a Crambus, which is about 

 the length of the insect's body, and which he noticed 

 was held by the hind legs of the Odynerus, and con- 

 sequently extended from the head to the extremity 

 of the abdomen. Hence the Odynerus is essentially 

 a fossorial hymenopterous insect (although belonging 

 to a family containing the social tribes of wasps), 

 furnishing its nest with larva? ; and yet neither the 

 anterior nor the posterior legs are armed with those 

 very remarkable spines which characterise those 

 real fossorial nymenoptera which provision their 

 nests. Here, therefore, we have another exception 

 to the theory of M. Saint Fargeau, in addition to those 

 observed by Mr. Shuckard, and described in his 

 Memoir upon this subject in the first part of the 

 Transactions of the Entomological Society. 



OZDEMERID.E (Leach). A family of coleopter- 

 ous insects, belonging to the section Heteromera, and 

 tribe Stendytra, of Latreille, having the body linear 

 or oblong, the antenna inserted near the eyes, the 

 mandibles notched at the tips, the penultimate joint 

 of the tarsi bilobed, and the maxillary palpi ter- 

 minated by a large hatchet-shaped joint, the posterior 

 thighs often greatly thickened in the males of some 

 species, whence the name of the family, which means 

 gouty-legged. The elytra are generally narrowed 

 behind, and not meeting along the back. These 

 insects are found in the perfect state upon flowers 

 and trees, and amongst long grass. In their general 

 appearance they have a considerable resemblance to 

 the Telephoridce. They are in general very active, 

 and fly well. The family is but of small extent. 

 The genera are, CEdemera, Oncomera, Ischnomera, 

 Not/ius, Conopalpus, all of which are British ; and 



