The Ecology of a Sheltered Clay Bank 189 
on top of the hard clay bank, and as a consequence the 
nests were very shallow, so shallow, in fact, that the prey 
could be exposed to view by merely blowing the dust 
away, whereas those burrows found in sandy areas had 
a much more substantial depth. 
On August 10, I found that the number nesting had 
increased to six, which would suggest, though not prove, 
a second generation. Also it became evident at that 
time that this wasp sometimes falls prey to the other 
inhabitants; one dead specimen was taken from the web 
of a spider occupant of the bank. Only four days later 
I found these Larrids had suddenly increased to about 
thirty, with a goodly proportion of males in the lot. 
Excited courtship and mating were the program of the 
day. The males outnumbered the females, and the usual 
fight for partners occurred, three or four males some- 
times struggling together for the possession of a fe- 
male. Even during this commotion, however, about ten 
females managed to attend to home duties, between inter- 
ruptions, bringing in locust nymphs mostly of the spe- 
cies Chortophaga viridifasciata De G. (A. N. Caudell) 
(Fig. 14). Toward the end of August the number of 
mothers began to diminish; on September 3, one was 
found dead in its doorway;-this probably indicated the 
approach of the season of natural death. And so it was, 
for only one or two were seen after that, and on my 
farewell visit for the year, Oct. 3, none of these sun- 
loving creatures were found to have survived the cold, 
gloomy days just preceding. The wasps have never 
appeared in early spring, and a few cocoons taken from 
the bank on April 28, 1921, gave forth adults on June 
2; this indicates that this is a summer and fall creature. 
In 1918 these wasps appeared in slightly greater num- 
