188 



Stethokectus.— ^INSECTS.- 



-PoarpiLiM!. 



Rtops up the entrance with a few pebbles, which she 

 brings with her long spinose feet, the anterior tarsi of 

 which are strongly ciliated. She docs not wait till each 

 caterpillar is devoured before supplj'ing another. If 

 uninterrupted in her economy by weather or other 

 circumstances, the whole are stored up in a few hours, 

 and she then begins to form a fresh burrow. This 

 species seems to be peculiarly attached to caterpillars 

 as the food of its progeny. Its ally, the Ammophila 

 viatica, seems usually to prey upon spiders. There are 

 three other British genera — Miscus, Sphex, and Doli- 

 churus. It is doubtful if the Sphex be indigenous ; 

 and the Dolichurus is a rare Devonshire insect. We 

 have not the curious "Dirt-daubers," so nicely de- 

 scribed by Gosse in the Zoolorjist, and also by the 

 venerable Abbot of Georgia in an extract quoted by 

 nie from his manuscripts. — (See a paper on Darwin's 

 Spiders in the Annals and Ulaijazine of Natural His- 

 tory about the year 1842.) Our figure (Plate 7, fig. 8) 

 represents the Petopwus spirifex, a common species in 

 southern Europe, the habits of which are described 

 by many writers. 



STETHORECTUS INGENS, or Great Brazilian Spider 

 Wasp, figured in Plate 7, fig. 11, is, perhaps, the largest 

 of all the species of the family Sphegidce. It was de- 

 scribed by Mr. F. Smith, in the twentieth volume of the 

 A miah and Magazine of Natural History. The male 

 is two inches and some liqes in length, while the female 

 is only two lines short of her mate. Both sexes are 

 black, and very smooth and shining, the wings being of 

 a dark metallic blue. The head is large and subqua- 

 drate ; the e\'es are large and oval. The clypeus has 

 four teeth in front, the two outer the largest. The man- 

 dibles are large, stout, and arcuated. The maxillary 

 palpi are six-jointed, the terminal joint being very 

 minute; the labial palpi are four-jcinted, the terminal 

 joints being conical. The thorax is very long and 

 strong. The upper wings have one marginal and three 

 submarginal cells, the second submarginal cell receiv- 

 ing two recurrent nervures. The hind legs are elon- 

 gated. The abdomen is ovate-conical, and abruptly 

 petiolated. 



The negro children in some parts of Jamaica have 

 given the name of Grave-digger to a species of Sphex 

 which Mr. Gosse noticed there, and has described in 

 his usual very interesting way. He noticed this Sphex 

 at work on a deserted earthen floor of a boiling-house 

 at Bluefields. lie observed, when examining this floor 

 closely, that there were numerous holes entering dia- 

 f^onally into the dry and dusty ground. From some 

 of these flies are emerging, while others are entering. 

 You may hear a buzzing in some of them : this pro- 

 ceeds from a Sphex actively at work. " At first," says 

 Mr. Gosse, " we cannot see what she is doing, for she 

 crawls in head-foremost, and in a second or two conies 

 out tail-foremost, recedes a few inches and then 

 advances again, again emerges in the same manner 

 and again enters, and continues thus to crawl hack- 

 ward and forward with bustling activity, and with 

 much flirting of the purpfing wings. She is almost 

 white with dust."* 



On a close examination Sir. Gosse found, that each 

 * Gosse : Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica, p. 146. 



time the Sphex came out she brought a load of the 

 earth larger than her head, and held tightly between 

 the tibios of her two fore legs, her breast, and her chin, 

 and dropped this burden an inch or two from the 

 cave's mouth. He noticed that she sometimes dragged 

 out a still larger stone, and grasped it with the jaws, 

 pulling it to a distance of four or five inches, for fear 

 it should roll in again. " I have seen her bring two 

 stones together, one grasped beneath the chin, the 

 other in the jaws. Each time she has dropped the 

 load, she never fails, as she advances, to keep the 

 road clear by scraping with the fore shanks, throwing 

 the dust behind her. But for this, the earth brought 

 out would soon accumulate in a heap and roll back." 

 He noticed that when a dry leaf or small stick happened 

 to drop against the mouth of the hole, the Sphex seized 

 it with her citfved jaws, and carried it to a safe distance. 

 When the hole is finished, and the egg deposited, 

 with a store of disabled spiders and caterpillars to feed 

 the larva when hatched, the Sphex fills up the hole by 

 scraping back a little heap of dust, pushing it in with 

 her head. This is repeated several times till the hole 

 is full, and the dust has been well rammed down with 

 the insect's head. As the ground is soft, and the 

 insects are very indefatigable in their labours, these 

 cells are soon made. 



Family— POJIPILID^. 



In the family of Pompilid^, a most extensive group 

 of the order Ilymenoptera, the insects store up cater- 

 pillars and spiders for their young. The prothorax is 

 usuall}' transverse, and broader than long ; the hind 

 margin is arcuate or subangular. The legs are long ; 

 the abdomen is more or less oval, and is attached to 

 the thorax by a short peduncle. 



Many of the British species store up spiders as food 

 for their young, such as Pompilus fitscus, P. gihhis, 

 &c. ; while others take caterpillars, such as Pompilus 

 niger. 



POMPIIUS PUHCTUM, a British species, wants the 

 cilia on the fore tarsi — a sure indication of a diflerenoe 

 of habit. Mr. Smith obtained from the Rev. W. 

 Delmar the cells of the Pompilus, found near Canter- 

 burj' ; they were formed of mud, and were placed 

 irregularly side by side, and much resembled those 

 made bj' the genus Pelopaius. 



There are two other British genera of this family. 

 One of these, C'eivjMilcs, is considered by some writers 

 as parasitic on Pompilus. From their legs being almost 

 destitute of spines, and from the tarsi having no cilia, 

 it is probable that thej' have some peculiar economy. 

 Species of this genus are found in all quarters of the 

 globe, some of which are distinguished by a remarkable 

 beauty of colouring, anl others by the hind legs being 

 disproportionately long. lu the females the antennaj 

 are always straight, and not convolute, as these organs 

 are in Pompilus. 



Dr. Kitto* observed a species of this group at Bag- 

 dad. In his journal of August 29, 18.31, he remarks, 

 " The wasps here are of a species and size I have not 



• Journ.il, quoted in Ryland's Memoirs of John Kitto, D.D., 

 p. 428 ; 185U. 



