132 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



and alighted on a leaf, and rested as long as we were willing 

 to watch her ; our willingness extended to one hour, and so 

 likewise did her repose. 



As the season advanced, the behavior seemed exactly the 

 same as previously. During August the males and females 

 commingled in the lazy flight to and fro over the manure- 

 piles, but they did not pay any heed to each other. At one 

 time during August we dug up the manure-heaps thor- 

 oughly, but then found no beetle larvae. 



In September, only the females were present; thus it 

 seems that in the species 5\ dubia, as in many other insect 

 species, the males both appear and disappear in advance of 

 the females. By this time some of the females had scarred 

 and worn wings, showing that they had probably been active 

 for a goodly time. 



The majority of them were lurking about the oldest man- 

 ure-heaps, that had lain undisturbed the longest time. Since, 

 in previous experience, we found the beetle larvae only later 

 in the season, we can only conclude here that these S. dubia 

 were lingering about these promising heaps waiting for the 

 larvae to become mature or abundant in order to oviposit, 

 and that they felt so secure in the favorable prospects of the 

 situation that they would not even go forth and seek other 

 places, but waited. 



We can find no literature on any biological aspect of this 

 insect, excepting that Ashmead 6 says : "Very little is known 

 on the habits of our forty-four species of Scoliidae. They 

 are parasitic on various scarabaeid larvae, mostly of the 

 family Scarabaeidae." 



e Psyche 7 : 78. 1896. 



