Laekid^e.. 



-INSECTS. Sphegtdje. 



187 



jietiole. There are five species of the gc jUS iujigonous 

 to the British islands. 



CERCERIS AEENARIA, as its name implies, burrows 

 in sandy siiots, where it may he met with abundantly 

 in tlie month of July. It stores up different species 

 of Curculionida;, taking any that may be abundant 

 near its nest. 



CERCEEIS ftUINftUE-FASCIATA, is a local species, 

 which seems to delight in frequenting the flowers of 

 the wild parsnip. It selects hard-trodden pathways 

 for its burrows, and provisions its cells with the A2)kiii 

 rufirostre. 



CERCERIS ORNATA, a variable and beautiful species, 

 is found to be gregarious. It forms large colonies, and 

 provisions its nest with difierent species of wild bees, 

 such as the HaHctus ruhicundus, Zonidus, &c. 



CERCERIS LABIATA conveys to its burrows speci- 

 mens of the vaulting beetle, named Haltica tahkla. 



Family— LAERID^. 



In this family the mandibles are notched outwardly 

 towards their base ; the tibipe of the fore and middle 

 legs have a single spine at their apes, wbile the tibiae 

 of the hind pair have two spines. This structure 

 indicates a peculiar habit in this family, of which there 

 are two or three British genera. 



MISCOPHUS BICOIOR, one of these taken at AVey- 

 bridge, provisions its nest with a small white-bodied 

 spider, which is found commonly on heath. 



TACHYTES DNICOLOE is another rare and very local 

 species of this family. It is met with in that warm 

 spot, Sandown Bay in the Isle of Wight, iu the month 

 of July ; it is an extremely active insect, flying with 

 great rapidity. 



ASTATA BOOPS, so called from its large eyes, is 

 another local insect, found on Hampstead Heath amongst 

 the sand pits. Its usual prey appears to be the larva 

 of a hemipterous insect of the genus Pciitulonui, occa- 

 sionally also capturing a small hymeuopterous insect 

 of the genus Oxyhclus. 



Family— BEMBECID^. 



Of this family there is no British representative. The 

 insects inhabit warm climates, and some of them are 

 said to emit a rose-like scent. In the genus Bcmbex, 

 the maxillse and labium are produced into a long beak, 

 hence the species of Southern Europe is named Bemhex 

 rostrata. This species constructs its nests iu the soft 

 light sea-sand, and catches its prey on the wing. This 

 prey consists chiefly of flies. 



Family— NYSSONIDiE. 



In this family the mandibles are not notched beneath, 

 and the legs are subspiuose. It is so called from its 

 typical genus Nijsson, of which five British species are 

 described. Two of these {N. trimaculutus and N, 

 dimidiatus) are observed to feign death when alarmed, 

 and to drop to the ground, like the (Jolden wasps. 



Of Goryles there are five British species, some of 

 which have been caught carrying the larva of the 



Apliroplwra spumaria — that larva which disfigures 

 plants with its spittle-iike secretion. It carries these 

 and other larvae to its nest. 



Of the genus MeUinus there are two British species. 

 One of these, a black insect with four yellow abdominal 

 bands {M. arvensu), is perhaps the most abundant 

 fossorial insect in the country. When the parent Mel- 

 linus has formed a burrow of the required length, and 

 enlarged the extremity into a chamber of the proper 

 dimensions, she issues forth in search of the proper 

 nutriment for her young. This consists of various 

 dipterous insects — flies of various genera are equally 

 adapted to her purpose, MuscidiB, Syrphida;, &c. — 

 which she captures.* 



Family— SPHEGIDiE. 



The insects of this family are marked by the pro- 

 thorax not having the posterior angles prolonged to the 

 base of the wings, and by being narrowed in front, so as 

 to be elongated into a sort of neck. The basal segment 

 of the abdomen is narrowed into a long petiole. The 

 mandibles are toothed on the inside. The insects of this 

 famil}', of which the species figured (Plate 7, fig. 11) 

 is one of the most gigantic, are specially interesting 

 on account of their habits ; the parent storing up for 

 the young an ample provision of insects, but more 

 particularly of spiders, which from their insect food 

 and the softness of their parts may be looked on as 

 a concentrated mass of the best juices of insects. 

 We are informed that the large Brazilian species 

 readily master spiders of the largest kind, such as 

 Mygakj^ rendering them powerless by their formidable 

 sting. The spiders thus attacked die a lingering death, 

 in some cases surviving five or six days. An egg is 

 deposited on the first insect stored up, so that the 

 larva is hatched by the time the cells in some instances 

 are provisioned ; but in this countr}' our common 

 Sand-wasp [Ammophila sabulosa) deposits the food at 

 intervals, so that it is fresh and suited to the young 

 larva, which lives principally on the juices and softer 

 parts, leaving the head, legs, and wings untouched. 

 Although Arachnida are the usual prey of the majority 

 of these insects, still there is a species which at one 

 time preys upon spiders, and at another chooses 

 caterpillars, when each kind of food was equally at 

 its command. Endless, indeed, are the variations of 

 habit in the Hymenoptera ; the more they are inves- 

 tigated, the greater will be our admiration of their 

 wonderful instinct and tact in adapting their operations 

 according to circumstances ; and when unimpeded in 

 them, of the beauty and fitness of their architectural 

 elevations. 



Ammophila. sahtdosa (A. vulyaris, Kirby) forms its 

 burrow iu sandy situations, with a chamber at its 

 extremity. Into this she conveys the caterpillar, and 

 deposits an egg on it. She subsequently stores up three 

 or four additional ones, and her task is completed.J 

 Each time that she deposits a caterpillar, she carefully 



• Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. xx., p. 395. 

 t -V genus of hairy-lodicd spiders, often called Bird-calchijig 

 spiders. 

 J: Catalogue of British Fossorial Hymenoptera, ji. 80. 



