180 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



After waiting in vain for her return, we looked at the 

 hopper again; it had somehow righted itself and sat on the 

 ground with its wings closed. Closer examination showed 

 that it was powerless to use its legs, but it moved its wings 

 in response to stimulation. It tried to walk, but the only 

 result of its efforts was a slight quiver of the left hind leg. 

 We picked it up, a little later, to examine it more closely on 

 the open hand. Imagine our surprise when, with the first 

 puff of wind, it spread its wings and flew a distance of 

 forty feet and was lost in the vegetation. Evidently the legs 

 had been properly paralyzed, but the wing nerves and 

 muscles were unaffected. This condition is usually suffi- 

 cient by reason of the fact that hoppers cannot normally use 

 their wings for flight without first leaping into the air by 

 means of their jumping legs. As prey they may occasionally 

 escape by some unusual circumstance, as in this case, but 

 such cases are so rare that there is no need of the wasp bur- 

 dening herself with either the instinct or the task of para- 

 lyzing the wings of her prey . As to this hopper it probably 

 lived and grew fat, even if it was unable to use its hind 

 legs, but we should like much to know whether the injured 

 members fell off. We have seen healthy hoppers with the 

 hind legs so neatly trimmed off at the basal joint that we 

 wondered how they came so; may it be that P. thomae or 

 P. atratum had once had them? 



The Relation of Stizus unicinctus Say [S. A. Rohwer] to 

 Priononyx thomae. Fabr. 



While C Morion cyaneiim was working on the cinder-bed, 

 as later described, a Priononyx thomae appeared, recon- 

 noitering in the same field. She at once went to work ener- 

 getically and dug a hole a half -inch deep, then deserted it 



