120 



THE]!AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



litllo bag of poison attached to it, the female 

 Digger Wasp, even since the creation of the 

 world, has been doing the verj' same thing in its 

 own dcparlnient of life. Yet, because the ani- 

 iiKil U ciinipanilively a small one, we overlook 

 and despise the beauty and simplicity of the 

 process by which it works. In reality, however, 

 this process is just as wonderfully ingenious, as 

 if a ship-owner liad the power of provisioning 

 liis ship with living sheep and living oxen, man- 

 ipulated in such a manner that they could be 

 liiickcd in the ship's hold like so many hogs- 

 lioads ; that they should require no food oratten- 

 daiKi' llicre, and neither Icick nor struggle nor 

 hollow nor bleat, but lie perfectly still; and yet 

 that, whenever wanted for food, they could be 

 hauled up out of the ship's hold and converted 

 at pleasure into good fresh juicy beef and 

 mutton. 



In some cases, a single caterpillar, or sjiider, 

 lornis suflicient food for a single larva ; and then 

 the nest is provisioned with only a single indi- 

 vidual. Sometimes, when such an animal is too 

 large and heavy to be transported throngh the 

 ail-, certain Digger Wasps (genera Ammophila. 

 iSjihex, and Pompllus) have been obser\'cd to 

 di-ag it along the surface of the earth, after tlie 

 manner in which the tumble-dungs work; but 

 lliis is the exception, and not the rule. In other 

 i-.iscs, as with several species of Wood AVasps 

 (Crabfo family), that bore nests for themselves 

 in timber, and provision them with plant-lice; 

 nearly a hundred individuals are stored up for 

 a single larva. The more usual number is from 

 half a dozen to a dozen. In no known case 

 does any Digger Wasp attempt to rear more 

 than a single larva in a single nest. As already 

 hinted, each species of Digger Wasp usually 

 selects a particular species, or, at all events a 

 particular group, either of insects, or of spiders, 

 as food for its young; but there are several ex- 

 ceptions to this rule, owing, do doubt, in part, 

 to I he occasional inability of the mother insects 

 to prooui-e the appropriate kind of food in- 

 sufBcient (piantities. 



Willi the single exception of one small order 

 (Xettroptcrn), no order of insects is exempt 

 from the attacks of these all-devouring wasps. 

 Sojne provision their nests with grasshoppers, 

 some with cockroaches, some with snout-beetles 

 of various kinds, some with ants, bees, and in 

 EuroiH' e\on with honc)-bees; a few with 

 ditlerent kinds of bugs, frog-spittle insects, and 

 phint-lice; a great number of them with various 

 kinds of two-winged flies, and a still greater 

 nninber, perhaps, with the larv.-e of various 

 mollis; and, besides all these, manv distinct 



species, belonging to widely distinct genera, 

 prey upon spiders. St. Fargeau, however, has 

 correctly remarked, that in no known case, 

 does any Digger A\''asp provision its nest with 

 other Digger AVasps, either belonging to its 

 own species, or to any other species.* The 

 habits of comparatively but few North Ameri- 

 can species have been hitherto obsei'ved ; but 

 it was long ago recorded by Catesby that a 

 [Fig. ii7 ] common Blue Dig- 



ger AA^asp {Chlori- 

 on caruleutn.'Drn- 

 ry. Fig. 97), makes 

 its nest in the 

 earth, and provis- 

 ions it with a spi. 

 der greatly larger 

 than itself;t and 

 we h.ave ourselves 

 observed a very 

 common Digger 

 ' "'"'-""liK" ''I'"' AVasp {Bemhex 



fiisci(i/fi. Fabr.), a tigure of which will be 

 lound below, burrowing in a sandy spot of 

 ground, and provisioning the nests which it has 

 [Fis. 98 ] thus constructed, with the 



common shining, green 

 blow-fly {Musca Ccesar, 

 Linn). AVc have obsei-ved, 

 too, on passing over sandy 

 plains frequented by these 

 last insects, that they will 

 pale grteuish-white. often fly rouud and round 

 one's person in rather an alarming manner, 

 though we have never known (heiu to sting 

 under such circumstances. Their object, no 

 doubt, is to distract the attention of the 

 intruder, and prevent him from noticing or dis- 

 turbing their nests. St. Fargeau observed 

 similar facts with i-egard (o a European species 

 {B. ros(rala) — which, like our common species, 

 provisions its nest with two-winged flies — and 

 states that, as soon as he set himself down a 

 little way off, and remained perfectly still, the 

 insects took no further notice of him. J It is a 

 good illustration of what has been called the 

 ?-«//.(/ o/' 7/r^6(7.s- in insects, that all the species 

 of this genus, the habits of which arc known, 

 whether in Europe, or in America, provision 

 their nests with two-winged flies (Dipld-fi). 

 and exclusively with such as belong to the Sec- 

 ond Grand Division (Bntcliycera) of the order. 

 The rapidity with which the Digger AVasps 



•St. Fargo.au, Hymenopt, II, p. r>48. 



^History of Carolina, Vol. II., paiti' ito, i|U(ilcil liy 

 Wfstwood, Introduction, II, p 207 lii-spcctinK Hi'' no- 

 menclature of this insect, sec the Appcnilix nt tlK- eml ol 

 this article. 



tSt. Fargeau, Hymenoptercs, II, p SGO 



dIois— Black brown and 



