162 



OXYBELUS UNIGLUMIS. 



The insects belonging to this genus prey upon Diptera. Their 

 mode of capturing their prey is singular. I once observed several 

 females running amongst the blades of grass which shot up from 

 the surface of a little hillock upon which the sun shone and 

 tempted various Diptera occasionally to alight. The Oocybeli 

 continued to run about apparently unheedful of the flies, until 

 at length the latter became somewhat accustomed to their pre- 

 sence ; but w r hen the Oxybelus came within five or six inches, it 

 darted upon the luckless fly in the same manner as a cat springs 

 upon its prey. 



1. Oxybelus uniglumis. 



O. niger ; abdominis segraentis punctis albis sublateralibus ; 

 tibiis tarsisque runs. 



Vespa uniglumis, Linn. Faun. Suec. 418. no. 1681 ; Syst. Nat. i. 

 951. 18. 



Villers, Ent. iii. 271. 14. 



Christ. Hym. 246. 

 Crabro uniglumis, Fabr. Syst. Ent. 376. 12 ; Ent. Syst. ii. 300. 23. 



Rossi, Faun. Etrus. ii. 92. 884. 



Oliv. Enc. Meth. vi. 518. 34. 



Panz. Faun. Germ. 64. 14. 

 Oxybelus uniglumis, Latr. Hist. Nat. xiii. 307. 2. 



Fabr. Syst. Piez. 316. 2. 



Oliv. Enc. Meth. viii. 595. 8. 



Van d. Lind. Obs. ii. 35. 5. 



Shuck. Foss. Hym. 107. 1. 



Zett. Ins. Lapp. Mb. 1. 



Dahlb. Hym. Europ. i. 273. 172. 



Guer. Icon. Reg. Anim. Ins. t. 71. f. 2. 



St. Farg. Hym. iii. 221. 13. 



Wesm. Hym. Foss. Belg. 157. 1. 



Female. Length 3-4 lines. Black ; the head closely punctured 

 and pubescent ; the face thinly covered with silvery pubescence ; 

 the mandibles ferruginous at their apex ; the flagellum beneath, 

 and usually some of the terminal joints, fulvous. Thorax punc- 

 tured and slightly pubescent ; the mesothorax with a central 

 and two short lateral impressed lines ; the scutellum and post- 

 scutellum with a central longitudinal carina; the squama on 

 each side of the posterior margin of the scutellum, white and 

 subhyaline ; the mucro at the base of the metathorax grooved 

 above and slightly curved downwards, the metathorax reticu- 

 lated ; the tubercles and a spot on the tegulse in front white ; 

 the wings subhyaline and iridescent, the nervures pale rufo- 

 testaceous ; the tibiae and tarsi ferruginous, with the base of the 



