Ie 
row certainly seemed very alluring; nevertheless, the fishing was 
poor and the wasp, becoming bolder at her lukewarm reception, 
poked her head over the burrow—as one would crouch at the 
brink of a precipice—bent her antennae downwards once 
or twice and, after the larva had snapped weakly a few times, 
made two or three feints at darting down towards her prey as if 
to goad it into action. The last feint aroused the larva a little, 
and Methoca, seeming determined to end matters, faced her 
adversary and, raising herself up somewhat, brought the abdo- 
men forward so as to be able to sting readily, quickly backed 


/ 
Fig. 36. Cocoon of M. 
Fig. 34. Full-grown ; : 
larva of WM. stria- striatella, X 4/3. 
tella. eb: Fig. 35. Female pupa of M. 

striatella, x 7. 
down into the burrow, descending along the unarmored back or 
between the back and side of the Cicindela. There were some 
very quick movements from both parties, but almost 1mmedi- 
ately the little wasp rushed out headfirst, her prey retiring deeper 
in the tunnel. The procedure to this point occupied about fifteen 
minutes. I thought that the wasp’s attack on her large opponent 
had been unsuccessful. Not so, however; the long curved sting 
had done its work and the cicindelid was soon in a nearly coma- 
tose condition. Methoca, though somewhat ruffled, was un- 
harmed; she brushed herself but did not return to the scene of 
operations for some minutes. When she finally went to the 
burrow she approached her helpless victim with great caution 
and speedily backed out at its movements; eventually becoming 
bolder, she passed in and out of the burrow, inspected her prize, 
and gave it one or two strong pulls with her jaws. It seemed 
that she was not prepared to lay an egg, and so I left her late in 
the afternoon to find an egg on the larva early the next morning. 
October 6, 2 p. m.: The larger wasp was placed in another 
prepared tumbler, and, finding a medium-sized larva therein, 
promptly busied herself in subduing it. As before, she teased 
