THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



127 



dig llieir holes is very remarkable, aucl they 

 disappear under ground in a very short time. 

 Audubon has commented with wonder upon 

 the foct, that our Ameiicau badger can bury 

 liimself in the earth in one minute;'^ but wo 

 once saw the female of one of our commone'-t 

 Digger Wasps (Jfi/zine 6-citicta, Fabr.) bury 

 herself in about half a minute in the -and.N 

 loam of a wagon-road. 



In illustration of the liabits of the ^ame I'.lue 

 Digger AYasp, whicli was referri'd to a few 

 Hues above, we will now quote a Aery graphic 

 account, furnished to us by Mr. George AV. 

 Smith, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, of the mode 

 in which this insect effaces all traces of the 

 hole or nest which it has just provisioned- 

 Unfortunately, Mr. Smith was prevented from 

 seeing the Wasp actually carrying the doomed 

 spider underground; but, judging from analogy, 

 the nest had been dug beforehand, and the spider 

 was carried in, the egg laid, and the entrance to 

 the nest effectually closed up during his brief 

 absence. On such a subject as this, we prefer, 

 whenever possible, quoting the evidence of non- 

 l)rofessionaI observers to stating facts observed 

 by ourselves; because, in the latter case, it 

 might be supposed by some that we were palm, 

 ing off '• travelers' tales "' upon the reader. 



On the afternoon of tli. 



■a wi 



.riasl 



heap 



eolor and the size of a Imnu I . « illi a >iii.l.'i a~ larm- a~ 

 itself in its mouth, aliyht on on.; of the w i'liIs ami Ironi 

 that to the ground, 1 watered my pony and hurried 

 back, in time to see the curious antics performed by tbe 

 wasp. 



I saw it scraping away a small pile of dirt, wliii-h 

 appeared to be sand neulv ihm up. It scraped with 

 its front pair of feet and then puslird llie dirt it hiid 

 scraped with them lurtlur on witli its other p.airs of 

 feet. Then it commcnii-d paltiiiLr iliis dirt with its .ili- 

 domeu, in the !-:mu- nuinn r a- «.■ wnul.l ram a niwh - 

 set post. It would Mi-apr a lilllc and i.ound aicaiii, 

 and then tlirow on inoiT ilirl Ii |ioundi-d (|uiir ioiTi- 

 blv and vorvfa>l. It krpi iiii tlir^r ariion- until thr 



pot 1 



Whontho «aV|. ^^ a~ -oiir, 1 ..pcnrd ihc jilar.. wluTr 

 it had poundfil-o niiirli, and in a lio!r alioul an iiirli 



speck, which I supjiose was an ej;g. Tlic spider did 

 not appear to be entirely dead. 



There is another and a much handsomer species 

 of an allied genus of Wasps, the Ichneumon- 

 like Digger Wasp, {Sphex irhneiimonea, TAini.), 

 of which we herewith present a drawing, 

 at Figure 99. 



Unlike the BlueDiggcr Wasp, which is ralhor 

 a southern than a northern species, it is common 

 everywhere in the northern States, but instead 

 of lighting chiefly upon the ground, as does its 

 indigo-blue compeer, it occurs more frequently 

 upon flowers. Dr. Packard, in his Guide to 



•Audubon and Baehman, Ilislonj of Qu 





Colors— Rust-red, with dense golden iiubescence. 



the Study of Insects, (pp. 1C7 — S), has published 

 the following very interesting and original obser- 

 vations on the habits of this species, which with 

 his permission we reprint: 



In the last week of July, and during August and early 

 in S(>ptember. we noticed" nearly a dozen of these wasps 

 busily engaged in digging their holes in a gravely walk. 

 In ])revious seasons tliey" were more numerous, burrow- 

 ing into grassy bank ~ near tin- walk. 'I'lic liolo were 

 fotu-to si.'c inchesdrrii. In l..--iiniin- tla- hole, tlio wasp 



dragged away willi il> t.. tb a -ton i.-hall a- larp' as 



itsi-tr toa distaiii-i' of , i-ht inrln- rmni tin' bole, while 



alk 



in with tooth and nail was marvelou>. 



There is another genus of Digger Wasps 

 (Ammophlla), closely allied to the preceding, 

 but distinguishable at once from it by the abdo- 

 men being much slenderer and attached by a 

 much longer stem or peduncle. Of this genus 

 there are about forty diflerent species found in 

 North America, some of which resemble each 

 other so closely that it is not always easy to tell 

 one from another. All those that are known to 

 us are peculiarly fond of alighting upon flowers, 

 where on a hot summer's day dozens of them 

 may often be observed in copulation, the amor- 

 ous males firmly embracing the females round 



