564 THE PENNSYLVANNIA SAND-WASP. 



sion it is ready to undergo its change, and for this 

 purpose spins itself up in a fine soft silken case about 

 the end of September, and remains in a chrysalis 

 state till the spring ; when it gnaws its way out of 

 the clayey dwelling, and becomes an inhabitant of 

 the air. 



The insect is then about three quarters of an inch 

 long, and of a dark blue colour. The pedicle con- 

 necting the abdomen and thorax is about a quarter 

 of an inch in length. The antennae are black, and 

 the wings tinted blue, and tipped with black. — It is 

 fouud in Carolina, and various other parts of North 

 America *. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA-SAND-WASP f. 



The nest of this species, as well as that of the last, 

 js formed with considerable art and ingenuity. The 

 insect scratches in the steep side of some bank of 

 Joamy earth an horizontal hole, about an inch in 

 diameter, and near a foot long, making it smooth 

 within, and pressing the earth so strongly as to se- 

 cure it from giving way. She then flies off and 

 seizes one of the large green grashoppers, and lodges 

 it safely at the farther end ; and, after laying an egg y 

 she again goes ofF and catches two others, which she 

 deposits with the former, and then closes up the 

 hole. The larva when produced feeds on the bodies 



* Phi!. Tran. n. 476. p. 363 — Vol. xliii. p. 363.— Cate=>by App. 

 P- 5- 



+ Synonyms. Sphex PennsylvaniCa. Linn. ? AmmophilaPenn- 



sylvanica. Kirby.— Grtat Black Wasp from Pennsylvania. Bariram, 



