522 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



BRAOHYSTEGUS Costa. 

 B. opulentus Gerts. Camden Co., VI, 28 (Fox). 



Sub-family IV ASTATINE. 



ASTATA Latr. 



A. bicolor Say. Gloucester Co., VIII, 16 (Fox), New Jersey (Cress Coll). 

 A. unicolor Say. Gloucester Co., VIII, 16 (Fox), Westville (Crn), James- 

 burg, VIII, 11 (Sm). 

 A. pygidialis Fox. Camden Co. (Fox). 

 A. occidentalis Cress. Philadelphia, VIII, 9 (Fox). 



Family XXIV STIZIDiE. 



SPHECIUS Dahlb. 



S. speciosus Dru. Not uncommon throughout New Jersey. Caldwell, com- 

 mon (Cr), New Brunswick, VII, 26, VIII, 26, Dunnfield, VII, 12 (Sm), 

 Staten Island (Ds), Sandy Hook (Bt). This is a very large species that 

 preys upon Cicadas, burying them in burrows made underground. 



Family XXV SPHEGIDiE. 



This family is easily recognized by the long slender pedicel or stalk con- 

 necting the thorax with the main bulb of the abdomen. From this peculiarity 

 Prof. Comstock calls them thread-waisted wasps. Among these are the com- 

 mon mud-daubers that plaster their clay or earthen cells against out-houses 

 and under porches, sometimes inside of shutters or in similar sheltered places. 

 These mud cells are filled with caterpillars, spiders or young grasshoppers, all 

 of which have been paralyzed by the mother wasp, as food for the grub-like 

 larva. When full-grown this makes a parchment-like cocoon, which turns 

 brown in color and in which the pupa is formed. These wasps are distinctly 

 beneficial, and destroy great numbers of grasshoppers and caterpillars annually 

 as food for their young. Some of the species are true diggers and do not make 

 mud nests, but their feeding habits are similar. 



SPHEX Linn. 



S. bifoveolatus Taschb. Swedesboro, VII, 15, Ocean Co.. Newark, New 

 Brunswick, VII, 17 (Sm). 



