250 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [ June, 
Series DIPLOPTERYGA 
Family EUMENIDAE 
Odynerus annulatus Say. 
Leoti, Wichita County, Kansas, August 21st, rgto. 
We were fortunate in finding two females of this species in 
the act of searching for a suitable nesting place. This was 
shortly before 9 A. M. The ground the wasps were survey- 
ing was quite clear of vegetation in areas of several square 
inches. Russian thistle was abundant everywhere, and at a 
distance of about 100 yards north and east were small shallow 
lakes or lagoons. At about 9.05 A. M., the first wasp having 
chosen its building site, commenced excavating, and at 9.40 the 
second did likewise. The locations chosen were about six feet 
apart, and for convenient reference the first Odynerus (9.05 
A. M.) shall be designated E (East) and the second W 
(West) in accordance with the positions of their excavations. 
They went to work as follows: 
The spot chosen was moistened, the earth thus softened was 
removed and arranged around the slight excavation in the 
form of a circular wall or tube. Odynerus worked but for a 
minute or so when she flew away in the direction of one of 
the lagoons, to return in an equally short time with her mouth 
parts glistening with water. More moistened earth was taken 
out and applied to the wall. In making the latter which 1s 
rough exteriorly and smooth inside, Odynerus employs her 
forelegs and mouth parts for the interior work and clings over 
the side of the tube with her two other pairs of legs. The 
abdomen is apparently applied to hold back the oncoming wall. 
After twenty minutes both wasps had excavated holes as 
deep as, or deeper than, themselves and constructed a short al- 
most vertical tube over them.* As the work advances only a 
part of the pellets of earth extracted from the gallery are used 
for tube construction, the rest are carried off and dropped sev- 
eral feet away. It is noteworthy that Odynerus in disposing 
of the pellets of earth (which she does when on the w ing), 
*Later inv estigations show that the tube is often considerably bent. 
