The Yellow-winged Sphex 71 



burrow to suit it, always left me uncertain. I 

 have never witnessed its digging-work, if it 

 really undertakes the labour of excavation. 

 And, a more serious matter, I have seen it 

 leave its game on the rubbish-heap, perhaps not 

 knowing what to do with it, for lack of a bur- 

 row wherein to place it. Such wastefulness as 

 this seems to me to point to ill-gotten goods ; 

 and I ask myself if the Cricket were not stolen 

 from the Sphex at the moment when she aban- 

 doned her prey on the threshold. My sus- 

 picions also fall upon Tachytes ohsoleta, banded 

 with white round the abdomen like Sphex 

 alhisecta and feeding her larvae on Crickets 

 similar to those hunted by the latter. I have 

 never seen her digging any galleries, but I have 

 caught her with a Cricket whom the Sphex 

 would not have rejected. This identity of 

 provisions in species of different genera raises 

 doubts in my mind as to the lawfulness of the 

 booty. Let me add, lastly, to atone in a 

 measure for the injury which my suspicions may 

 do to the reputation of the genus, that I have 

 been the eye-witness of a perfectly straight- 

 forward capture of a small and still wingless 

 Cricket by Tachytes tarsina and that I have seen 

 her digging cells and victualling them with 

 game acquired by her own valiant exertions. 

 I have therefore only suspicions to offer in 



