HUNTERS OF LARGE ORTHOPTERA 177 



very spot and critically added more cinders, took a few more 

 last looks and finally, at 5 : 29, she flew off and rested on the 

 grass some distance away, as if all her interests were now 

 in the future and the past was a closed book. It had taken 



FIG. 40. Homeward bound Priononyx thomae transporting her locust 

 to the burrow. Exact size. 



her just fifty-four minutes to dig her burrow, bury her prey, 

 lay the egg, and conceal the spot. 



After she had gone, we opened the nest and found the 

 hopper with its head to the wall. The chamber was only 

 one inch underground and one inch long, of no definite shape, 

 but it was as well constructed as it could be in such rough 

 material. We found the brown egg on the right femur, near 

 where it joins the thorax. We took the egg and its host 

 home and guarded them carefully. The next morning, July 

 15, at 7 o'clock, we found the legs, antennae and mouth- 

 parts of the hopper active and excrement had been passed, but 

 the femur upon which the egg rested was immovable. With 

 what delicate accuracy the little mother-wasp had done her 

 work! By the following day the egg was slightly enlarged 

 and had changed from brown to green. The morning of the 

 1 7th found a larva, fat and large, still clinging to the femur 

 of the hopper and eating away the thorax near the joint. 



