48 GUIDE TO INSECTS. 



species attack and kill even the large Mygales. The Salius will 

 hover round the nest of the Mygale and sometimes entice it out 

 by touching the spider's web, it will then pounce on the spider and 

 render it helpless by stinging it. Sometimes a struggle takes place, 

 and the two will roll over and over, but the wasp is nearly always 

 victorious. A specimen of Salius dedjax from German East Africa, 

 with the Mygale which it had caught and was carrying away, are 

 exhibited. 



WaU- In this case are exhibited a series of nests made by various wasps. 



and 12> Among these are numerous cells or nests built of mud by species of 



Table- Pelopwus. 



case 46. Pelopmus figulus (401 ) and P. histrio (403) form groups or 



masses of cells. Examples are exhibited in Wall-case 12 and in 

 Table-case 51. These cells when completed are filled with insects, or 

 more generally with spiders, to serve as food for the larvae of the 

 wasps. The remains of the spiders can be seen in the nest of 

 PelopcBKS bilineatus from N.W. India, exhibited in Table-case 46, and 

 in the nest of Pelopceus chalyleus from Natal in the same case. The 

 cells of this species are placed in pieces of bamboo. Pelopceus Icetus 

 from Australia (397), Wall-case 12, and P. madraspatanm from 

 N.W. India, Table-case 46, sometimes build separate cells, but a 

 curious group of cells formed by the latter species in a deserted 

 bird's nest should be noticed in Wall-case 12 (391). 



The species of Crabro form burrows in various places ; some 

 in the ground, others in decayed wood, in bramble stems, &c. 

 The cells are stored with insects, most commonly perhaps with 

 Diptera. An example of a piece of willow with cells of Crabro 

 cephalotes from Barnes Common is shown in Table-case 46. 



The species of Odynerus avail themselves of any suitable hole in 

 which to make their mud nests. Two curious examples are exhibited 

 in Wall-case 12, one built in the centre of a reel of cotton, the other 

 in a blind-tassel (415). 



Among other clay nests that specially deserve notice are some 

 built by species of Eumenes in the shape of vases (449, fig. 48). 

 Another standing with these, from Aden, and evidently formed by 

 a member of this genus, is noteworthy for the size of the stones 

 fixed on the outside (447). It is remarkable that such a small 

 insect could carry and manipulate stones of this weight. The size 

 of the insect can be judged by the hole through which it emerged 

 from the nest (fig. 49). 



