684 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



is made in sand. The cricket is held, according to Packard, by 

 the clasping of the base of the antennae between the base of the 

 mandibles and the clypeus. The minute teeth on the clypeus pre- 

 vent the antennae from slipping. When protecting its nest or 

 when carrying prey the wasp appears nervous and agitated. 



East Hartford, 9 August, 1904 (P. L. B.) ; New Haven, 14 

 August, 1906 ( W. E. B.). 



LARRINI. 



These wasps are black or black and reddish and usually 

 clothed with fine pile, which often forms transverse bands on the 

 abdomen. They nest in the sand and as far as the records show 

 seem to prefer the grasshoppers as food for their larvae. 



Key to Genera. 



1. Front very strongly raised, so there is a transverse ridge 



below anterior ocellus; lateral ocelli linear; pygidium with 



silvery pile Notogonidea p. 684 



Front not strongly raised, there being no transverse ridge 

 below anterior ocellus 2 



2. Lateral ocelli oval or elongate oval in outline; front not 



raised along inner margins of eyes; pygidium without pile 



Tachysphex p. 686 

 Lateral ocelli larger dorsally so they appear hooked 3 



3. Front slightly raised along inner margins of eyes; pygidium 



without pile Larropsis p. 684 



Front not raised along inner margins of eyes; pygidium 

 clothed with pile Tachytes p. 685 



Notogonidea Rohwer. 



N. argentata (Beauvois). 



Wings subhy aline, apical margin fuscous, body black; head, 

 thorax and legs with silvery pile as are also the apical margins of 

 the first to fourth dorsal abdominal segments. This common 

 species, though it has not as yet been taken within the State, will 

 surely be found there. According to Ashmead, it makes a clay 

 cell which it provisions with immature crickets. 



Larropsis Patton. 

 L. distincta (Smith). 



Wings subhyaline ; abdomen black or black and red. Female : 

 interorbital line less than the length of the second and third anten- 



