﻿HI SPHEGIDAE — SPHEGIDES I I I 



of operations was performed, and were repeated many times, the 

 Sphex evidently acting in each case as if either the cricket had 

 disappeared owing to its being incompletely stunned, or to its 

 having been stolen by ants. Finally, the observer placed the 

 cricket at a greater distance from the nest, when it recovered 

 from the ill-treatment it had received sufficiently to make its 

 escape. The points of interest in this account are the fact that 

 the cricket was only temporarily paralysed, and that the wasp 

 was quite able to cope with the two special difficulties that must 

 frequently occur to the species in its usual round of occupations. 

 The genus Ammophila is of wide distribution, and its species 

 make vertical tunnels in the ground. The habits of some of the 

 species found in France have been described by Fabre. The 

 Insect does not inhabit the burrow while it is in process of 

 formation, but quits it ; and some of the species temporarily 

 close the entry to the incomplete nest with a stone. The 

 tunnel is a simple shaft with a single cell at its termination ; 

 this is stored with caterpillars, the different species of Ammo- 

 phila selecting different grubs for the purpose. A. hirsuta hiber- 

 nates in the perfect state, and carries on its work in the spring ; 

 it chooses a single larva of considerable size belonging to one 

 of the nocturnal Lepidoptera, and this it paralyses by a series of 

 about nine stings, of which one is implanted in each segment 

 from the first thoracic ring backwards ; it forms the burrow only 

 after the food to be placed therein has been obtained. The 

 caterpillar used is subterranean in habit, and the Ammophila 

 detects the larva by some sense, the nature of which appears at 

 present quite uncertain. A. holosericea chooses smaller larvae of 

 the family G-eometridae, and uses only one or two stingings to 

 paralyse each larva ; several caterpillars are used to provision a 

 single cell, and they are often selected of different colours. 



Marchal has also published an important account of the 

 proceedings of A. affinis ; he confirms Fabre's observations, and 

 even adds to their interest by suggesting that the Ammophila 

 administers special stings for the purpose of paralysing the 

 mandibles of the caterpillar and depriving it of any power of 

 afterwards injuring the larva that will feed on it. He thinks 

 the mother- Ammophila herself profits by appropriating an exuda- 

 tion from the victim. 



Some species of Sphegides have the curious habit of choosing 



