THE MELLINUS — OXYBELUS — PHILANTHUS. 153 



comes close to a fly, when it springs upon the luckless insect, 

 trounces it in its claws, and carries it oft' like a falcon with a par- 

 tridge. 



Six or seven flies are generally taken by the Mellinus, and as 

 soon as the larva is hatched it begins to devour the fly which is 

 nearest to the bottom of the cell. It eats them in succession, 

 usually devouring six of the victims, consuming the softer parts 

 only, and leaving the head, shell of the abdomen, part of the tho- 

 rax, and the limbs. Ten days suffice for the completion of its 

 feeding, and it then spins a tough, dark-colored cocoon, wherein 

 it remains during the winter and part of the spring, changes into 

 the pupal condition in the summer, and attains its perfect state at 

 the beginning of autumn. 



Another species of burrowers, Oxybelus uniglumis, has similar 

 habits. Mr. F. Smith writes of it as follows: "I once observed 

 several females running among 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 Oxybeli 

 continued to run about, apparently unheedful of the flies, until, 

 at length, the latter became somewhat accustomed to their pres- 

 ence ; but when 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." The burrows of this species are generally made 

 in hard white sand. 



The boldest of the British bee-burrowers is undoubtedly the 

 insect which is called Philanthus triangulum, inasmuch as it pro- 

 visions its nest with the common hive-bee, seizing the luckless 

 honey-makers, and carrying them off to its nest. It is a very 

 fierce-looking creature, with a large head and wide jaws, and has 

 a suspiciously waspish look, owing to its yellow abdomen and 

 black dots. It does not confine itself to the hive-bees, but seizes 

 also the andrenae and similar insects. 



The members of the genus Cerceris are remarkable for the va- 

 riable coloring of the species, and for the widely different insects 

 with which they store their nests. Generally they prefer beetles, 

 and, strangely enough, they often select those species which are 

 not only small in body, but are furnished with very hard shells, 

 so that the larva would seem to experience some difficulty in 

 making a meal. Several beetles which Mr. Smith found in the 

 cells of the Cerceris were so hard that he could with difficulty 

 pass a pin through their bodies. Fortunately for agriculturists, 



