HUNTERS OF SMALL ORTHOPTERA 143 



found a hole with a little mound of sand on top, but the 

 opening was visible. She entered, and came out fifteen min- 

 utes later empty-handed. We opened the burrow and found 

 that it went down for three inches into wet sand and ended 

 abruptly. It may have been a nest which she was construct- 

 ing, or it may have been the nest of another wasp. A little 

 later, another was seen peeping into cracks in the mud. 

 What they were so busy about remains a mystery. 



At noon, none were in evidence, but at 5 : 50 p. m. perhaps 

 fifty were on the sand. This condition was noted repeatedly, 

 that, -unlike most wasps, which love dry heat and work chiefly 

 at midday, these are seldom to be seen in the heat of the day 

 but become most numerous and active at about 5 p. m. 



Their prey which we have thus far been able to con- 

 fiscate has been of the four following species of leaf-hop- 

 pers: Athysanus exitiosus Uhl. [E. H. Gibson], Thamnotet- 

 tix clitellarius Say [E. H. Gibson], Empoasca mail Le B. 

 [E. H. Gibson] and Agallia novella Say [E. H. Gibson]. 

 From four to twelve occurred in a nest. 



There are in the literature no biological notes on any mem- 

 ber of this genus, so far as we have been able to discover, 

 excepting a paper by Hartman 4 on this same species. Here- 

 with are some of his details which show the similarity and 

 diversity of the behavior of this species in two distinct and 

 remote localities. He says that the nest of melleus is al- 

 ways left open day and night, the sand is loosened with the 

 mandibles, scratched back with the forefeet and kicked out 

 with the hind feet. The work of digging the nest is done 

 at once, although some dirt is brought up from time to time 

 after the provisioning has been begun. The prey, carried ia 

 the mandibles, is a leaf-hopper, Tettigonia bifida Say. One 

 specimen of melleus fell prey to a spider which was a perfect 

 mimic of the sand. On digging out a nest he found it "to 

 4 Bull. Univ. Texas 6: 41-42. 1905. 



