64 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



Psammo chares scelestus 6 Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. 



On October 7 this wasp was found carrying an immature 

 spider, a Dolomedes sp. [C. R. Shoemaker]. She did not 

 hold it vertically, but drew the spider's middle leg con- 

 veniently under her body, grasped its tarsus in her mandi- 

 bles, and while she walked forward, dragged its body along 

 bumpity-bump over sticks and stones. After travelling this 

 way for a short time, she hid the spider under a clod and 

 flew about over the sandy bank for some little time, where 

 she probably found a suitable spot or hole ; then she returned 

 to her spider and again, in the same way, attempted to pull 

 it up hill. This time, however, she failed to get a firm 

 foothold and both rolled down to the ledge below. Here 

 she carried it to a small depression and left it. When she 

 failed to return after an hour, we took the spider, which 

 was then motionless. By the next day it had regained its 

 vigor to such an extent that it could slightly move the body 

 sidewise. Three days after its capture, while it could not 

 move its body, the legs responded to stimulus. The next 

 day it was so active that it could hop for some distance with 

 surprising agility, but on October 13, six days after its 

 capture, it was dead. 



One day, in searching for insects, we dug a little cave 

 several inches deep into a bank, near its base. Two days 

 later, October 5, this black wasp was at work digging a 

 hole at the extreme end of this little dugout. The hole 

 must have been deep or large, for already there was a 

 goodly pile of fresh earth thrown out about the orifice. It 

 was rather dark back in this little cave, but with the aid 

 of light reflected upon the wasp from a mirror, we were 

 able to follow its maneuvers. The wasp went into the hole 

 head first, remained inside a good many minutes, and, when 



6 This wasp is the same as Pompilus scelestus (fide Rohwer). 



