CRABRONlDvE. 



159 



Fig. 85. 



Cresson remarks that Eucerceris (Fig. 8G, fore wing of malt- : 

 a, female) differs from Cerceris in the venation, which 

 greatly in the two sexes. E. zonatus Say 

 occurs in the west. 



The species of Cerceris (Fig. 87, wing) 

 have transversely oblong heads, the front of 

 the head is flattened and destitute of hairs, 

 and the rings of the abdomen are contracted, 

 the middle part being un- 

 usually convex and coarsely 

 punctured, while the basal 

 ring is nearly one-half nar- 

 rower than the succeeding 

 ones. Cerceris deserta Say is our most com- 

 mon form. In Europe some species are Fig. 87. 

 known to store their nests with bees, and the larvae of Cur- 

 cnl ion idee and Buprestidce. Dufour unearthed in a sin- 

 gle field thirty nests of C. bupresticida which were filled with 

 ten species of Buprestis, comprising four hundred individuals, 

 and none of any other genus. Cerceris tuberculata provisions 

 its nest with Leucosomus ophthalmicus ; and C. tricincta with 

 Clythra. 



In the subfamily Crabronince, there is a great disparity in 

 the sexes, the form of the females being the most persistent. 

 In the male the head is smaller, narrow behind, with shorter 

 mandibles, and a narrower clypeus ; the body is also much 

 slenderer, especially the abdomen, and the legs are simple in 

 Crabro, but in Thyreopus variously modified by expansions of 

 the joints, especially the tibia. The 

 species of Crabro (Fig. 88) are readily 

 distinguished by the large cubical 

 head, and the sharp mncronate abdo- 

 minal tip of the female. The more 

 typical form of this very extensive 

 genus is Crabro sex-maculatus Say, 

 so-called from the six yellow spots 



on the subpedunculate abdomen. According to Dr. T. "W. 

 Harris (MS. notes), this wasp was seen by Rev. Mr. Leonard, 

 of Dublin, N. H., burrowing in decayed wood, June 10th. 



