Ecological and Behavior Notes 9 



Cryptocheilus magnus Cress. [ S. A. Rohwer]. One 

 male taken in sweeping an oats field July 9, 1917. 



Cri/ptocheilus fulvicornis Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. This 

 wasp made its appearance on the baseball field after the 

 rain on July 23, 1918. 



Episyron higuttatus Fab. [S. A. Rohwer]. The wasp 

 with her prey clasped under her body was seen to enter 

 her hole in the sand; when she emerged, she was cap- 

 tured for identification. The burrow was three inches 

 deep, one quarter inch in diameter, and went do\^Ti at an 

 angle of 45°. There was no pocket, but at the terminus 

 lay a spider with an egg fastened to it laterally. On this 

 occasion the mother remained in the burrow for five 

 minutes, presumably adjusting the spider and depositing 

 the egg. The spider was not entirely lifeless, but the 

 legs could not move. After seven days it still showed 

 slight traces of life. 



A second member of this species was seen the next day, 

 digging. It would enter its hole head first, and throw the 

 sand out of the burrow literally in a spurting stream. 

 With rapid movements of her forefeet she would brush 

 the sand under the body and out of the hole. Sometimes 

 she cleaned out in the same manner the sand that accu- 

 mulated in her doorway, and every so often she would 

 come out and work in the same way cleaning the sand 

 from the area surrounding the hole. At 5:15 p. m. she 

 left, evidently in quest of prey; up to 6:15 she had not 

 returned. The next day at 10 o'clock I found the hole 

 closed, but the friable condition of the sand rendered 

 futile all attempts to explore the completed nest. 



In the sunshine in the dooryard another of these wasps 

 was spied covering her nest. I could not then watch her, 

 but after the nest had been filled and she once more re- 

 turned to the spot, I took her. For more than fifteen 

 minutes of this time, a parasitic fly was hovering per- 

 sistently about this spot. The nest was dug up, but the 

 tunnel could not be traced. The pocket with the spider, 



