338 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis 
of Cerceris do not all have the same habits; there is much 
diversity within the genus, in both nesting sites and prey 
eaptured. While most members of the genus nest in the 
ground, we have a few that make nests in twigs, e. g., C. 
finitima Cress., and in getting prey for the young, certain 
species catch weevils, Buprestid and other beetles, while 
others seek bees. 
If there are such things as plant societies, then surely 
we may say insect societies exist. When one compares 
the wasp population of our baseball diamond at St. Louis 
with that of the school yard at Pevely, thirty miles dis- 
tant, then one must surely say that certain types of areas 
attract certain insect societies. The two places gave us 
Bembia nubilipennis, Odynerus dorsale, Cerceris bicor- 
nuta, and one single specimen at each place of Cerceris 
fwmipennis. The proportion of each species in the popu- 
lation as a whole was likewise similar. 
One frequently finds the hole of this wasp closed when 
the digging is still in progress, but it is easily located and 
partially identified by a pile of loose dirt over it (fig. 
35), at the center of which is usually a group of a half 
dozen rolls of dust, tightly packed, just as the wasp has 
pushed it out of the burrow. This detail indicates that 
her method of excavating is similar to that of C. raw. 
She digs and pushes the dirt up to the upper part of the 
channel where it forms a plug; when at intervals she 
pushes this whole stopper out above the ground the 
masses of dirt retain their sausage-like form for a time 
after they have been forced out, until they become thor- 
oughly dry and crumble to dust in the wind. Certain 
beetles excavate in the same way. It seems that excavat- 
ing and provisioning must be carried on at the same time, 
for often when she pushes out a pack of dirt, she throws 
out some of the bill-bugs as well. Four beetles were 
