THE LITTLE FLYCATCHER. 73 



CHAPTEE VII. 



THE LITTLE FLYCATCHER. 



Oxy~belus quadrinotatus Say. 

 Plates VIH., fig. 7; XIII., fig. 3. 



In studying the species that come in our way we are contin- 

 ually developing unaccountable likings for some kinds above 

 others. The appearance of one of these favorites is always 

 hailed with delight, and w r hen the season's work is over we re- 

 member them with lively pleasure. 



It is thus, dear little Oxybelus, that we dwell upon the thought 

 of you and your pretty ways. No other wasp rose so early in 

 the morning, no other was so quick and tidy about her work, 

 so apt and business-like without any fuss or flurry. No other 

 was more rapid and vigorous in pursuit of her prey, and we 

 think with admiration and gratitude of the number of flies that 

 you must have destroyed in the course of the summer. 



0. quadrinotatus is only one-quarter of an inch long and is 

 dark gray with four whitish spots on the abdomen. It was be- 

 fore nine o'clock in the morning that, while out on an early in- 

 spection tour in the garden, we saw our only example of this 

 species descend upon a sandy spot and after a moment's rapid 

 scratching with her first legs, enter the hole that she had 

 opened.* Under her body she was carrying a fly which looked 

 like the common domestic species. It was upside down, its- 

 head being tightly clasped with the third pair of legs, and all 

 of its abdomen projected beyond the abdomen of the wasp. 

 Ashmead quotes from Fabre the remarkable statement that 

 Oxylelus carries her flies home impaled on her sting. This 



*During- the following summer this species became so common that 

 we studied many examples. 



