HUNTERS OF SMALL ORTHOPTERA 151 



her position against the wind. Finally she opened her wings 

 and made an attempt to fly, whereupon we seized her and 

 placed her and her prey in a vial, lest she should escape 

 without our knowing her name. Still she clung to the hop- 

 per, even after this rough treatment, so we released her, 

 hoping that she would proceed to her nest with her prey. 



She resolutely mounted the hopper in the same manner 

 as before; then apparently changed her mind and paused, 

 still resting astride her victim, and calmly made a very com- 

 plete toilet, cleaning her legs, antennae and abdomen. Mean- 

 while the grasshopper worked over on its side. Once more 

 refreshed, the wasp seized the hopper and righted it, the dor- 

 sal side to the earth, and flew away. But she was flying 

 against a strong wind with her burden, so it was not surpris- 

 ing that after she had gone six feet she lost it, seemed to 

 give up the project, and sat down on a plant to rest. We 

 must not be hasty in calling her faithless, since we do not 

 know how long she may have been struggling with her bur- 

 den before we chanced to find her. 



Williams 6 has taken this species once with her prey, a very 

 small acridian. 



A Tachytes abductus was seen to enter several holes in the 

 sand, at Moselle, Missouri, on September 23, but pop right 

 out again. She remained in one hole longer than usual ; this 

 aroused our curiosity, so we dug it up. At the bottom was 

 a spider, Trochosa cinera F. [N. Banks]. It was 'prob- 

 ably no more than coincidence, since most of the members 

 of this group of wasps use Orthopterous prey. For this 

 species Williams says : "They frequent the muddy shore 

 of the Solomon River in Kansas. A few were searching 

 for immature Tettigidae. On two occasions the grouse 

 locusts were small and easily borne on the wing." 



6 Kans. Univ. Sci. Bull. 8: 199. 1913. 



