162 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Apiiendix to the Article on "Wasps and their 

 Habits," in No. 7. 



BY THE SENIOR EDITOR. 



GENUS CHRYSIS 



We.stwood® has suggested that the diri/sis family are 

 not true Parasites, preylug on the body of the victim- 

 larva exclusively, but that they prey upon the supply of 

 food laid up for that larva liy the mother- ily, that is, that 

 they are what I have called " guest-Mes." But, in 

 the first place, they are known to infest both the nests 

 of Digger Wasps and those of solitary Bees, the former 

 of which are provisioned with living insects, the latter 

 with honey and pollen. Consequently, on the above 

 supposition, the Chri/sis lar\a must feed exclusively, 

 sometimes on animal, sometimes on vegetable food; 

 which is in the highest degree improbable. In the 

 second place, Chnjsis has, been ascertained to infest the 

 nests of the Social Wasps, which lay up no stores of 

 lood whatever, but feed their young larva; from day to 

 day.f In tliis case, therefore, "Westwood's supposi- 

 tion is reduced to a physical impossibility. 



St. Fargeau was of opinion that the larvic of the 

 C/iri/su flies were true parasites, in the sense in which 

 the term is commoidy used; for he says that the eggs 

 from which thev take their origin do not hatcli outldl 

 after the Icgitiiuato inhabitant of the cell has liecome 

 nearly full grown; when the parasitic larva seizes its 

 victim by the back and slowly and gradualh" sucks away 

 his life.{ BruUe, writingsix years after Wc^nvood, 

 savs tha-t, t!.? C'Acysi* flies arc— in some mode which he 

 do'cs not explain— intermediate in their habits between 

 what 1 have called "Guest-Hies " and what are com- 

 nionlv known as I'arasitcs; and concludes by acknowl- 

 edging that their liabits are not yet fully understood. !| 

 Fred.'ciievrier, who piiblished an elaborate work upon 

 this I'amilv at Geneva, in Switzerland, in 18(i2, eludes 

 the vital question by simply saying, that the 67j/7/.«/s flies 

 '•deposit their eggs, like the cuckoo, in ne.sts built by 

 other species." But as to the food of the larvie that 

 subsequently hatch out from these eggs, he preserves a 

 deep silence.? Mr. Fred. Smith, however, writing in 

 the same year as Chevrier, in the work alreadj' I'eferred 

 to, evidently entertains no doubt wliatcver as to the true 

 parasitical habits of this Family. Finally, l)r. Pack- 

 ard, writing in 1866, first asserts that " the larviv [of the 

 Chn/sis flies] are the first to hatch and devour the food 

 stored up by other fossorial bees and wasps," and then 

 by way ot compensation goes on to quote the passage 

 from St. Fargeau, which has been already referred to 

 and which asserts the exactly opposite doctrine, narae- 

 Iv, that they feed, not ou the tood stored up for tlieuse 

 (if the infested larva;, but on the bodTes of the larvre 

 themselves. 



GENUS BEMBEX. 



f am not quite certain that the species figured in the 

 text (p. 126, fig. 98) is Ji. fascinta, Fabr., but it is un- 

 doui)tedly S. Spinola, St. Fargeau. This author has 

 re-described a great many old species under ne\v names. 



GENUS STIZUS. 



Stizds brbvipennis, n. sp. (j" Black. limil subopaque 

 and pubescent. Anterior orbits up to the front ocellus, a 

 very narrow abbreviated orbit behind the eye, face ex- 

 cept the clvpeal suture, clypeus, labrum, and middle half 

 of mandibles, all pale yellow. Palpi pale rufous. Anten- 

 n:e with the basal joint below, laterally, and at the ex- 

 treme tip, pale yellow; the second joint, the basal half 

 of the third joint, and the tip of the last joint, rufous. 

 'fAora.r very finely and rather closely punctured, with 

 long cinereous hairs behind and below; the hind edge of 

 the collar above, a small spot beneath the front wing 

 and a longitudinal line above it, a small basal spot on 

 eaeh side of the scutel and a band behind it, all pale 

 yellow. Wing-scales palerufous. .fMomen. very finely 



*Inlroditction, It, p. 17G. 



■(■Frecl. Smith in Entomologisis' Annual, 18G2, p. .sn. 



iEncycl. Meth., X, i). 



WHymenopt, pp. 5 and 0. 



^Chrysides d& Bassin du Lcman, p. ix. 



and rather closely punctured, basally with a few cine- 

 reous hairs. On the dorsum, a large lateral subquad- 

 rate spot on joint 1, slightly behind the middle, another 

 such spot covering the basal two-thirds of joint 2, but- 

 basally prolonged upwards in an acute angle, and on 

 jointsS and 4 a band covering the ba.sal two-thirds of 

 each joint, narrowly interrupted above on joint 3 and 

 scarcely interrupted on joint i, all pale yellow. On the 

 venter, joints 3 and 4 have each a large pale ycUowsub- 

 triangular lateral s])ot. transversely elongated, and 

 with the ape.x of each triangle towards tlie middle, each 

 pair of spots not (piitc nii'ciiiig in the middle. Anal or- 

 gans rufous, the tridcutate process horizontally flat- 

 tened with its sides parallel on its basal half, when on 

 each side a slender thorn projects backwards and out- 

 wards at an angle of 45", and the process, being sud- 

 denly reduced one-half in width, is continued in a spear- 

 shaped form with its tip ciu-ving downwards in the 

 shape of a long thorn, ifv.v yellow varied with rufous; 

 cox.-E, trochanters and ijas'al half uf femora, black. 

 H-'irtji,' subhyaline; veins dark rnfous, the costal veins 

 verging upon brown. — Length cJ 1,00 inch; expanse of 

 wings "l. 55 inch; length of front wing, including the 

 wing-scale, 0.67 inch. 



Oiie (j" taken in the sunnner on wild parsnip flowers 

 near Rock Island. 111.; $ unknown. When recent, 

 the front wing attains only the middle of the 5th abdo- 

 minal joint, "in ,sy. J/(f(/,ir(li $, judging from St. Far- 

 geau's and Latreiile's figures, in .s/. nifpex § (St. Far- 

 geau's figure), in ,sy. ,/ninilis $ (.<ay's figure), and in 

 St. xprvwi'is § (figured p. 129, fig. 103, from nature), it 

 attauis or more than attains the lip of the alMJomen. 

 Mr. Cresson kindly informs me, that in tlio uiali's also 

 of three of the species enumerated uIkim' {Iii'ijurdi , 

 i/runiUs and s/iei-iusiix). which arc contained in tlie Soci- 



jollcction, 

 the abdomen.' " 

 .sides lireripcintix. 

 sallv spotleil 1)1- 

 North African s 

 ing been incoc 

 ijlgas, Fron 



The nn 

 with all. 



■11]. 1 



s, (lie 

 .1 liV 



linal 



eadi beyond the tip of 

 r dc.^crilicd species, bc- 

 jdints 1. 2. 3 it 4 dor- 

 n'uiiih'.i, St. Fargeau, a 

 ific name of which hav- 

 should lie clianged to 

 'jiiiiiiis may be at once 



separated by the lour yellow ventral spots and by other 

 less obvious characters. 



The only two N. A. Sf;.uis. the habits of which are 

 known (.yicfiosux and i/runilin), jirovision their nests 

 with Cicadii, as stated in the text; and t believe that, in 

 accordance with the law of tlie Ukitv qv Habits, the 

 other two species will probably turn out to do the same 

 thing. Dr. Packard, in his (iuiiji?, rfc, (p. 163) errone- 

 ously states that the species of tins genus provision their 

 nests with "grasshoppers and other large insects." 

 The mistake probably arose from his confounding "Lo- 

 custs," the popular name for Ciaida, with "Locusts" 

 the scientific name for certain grasshoppers. 



GENUS AGENIA, SCHioriTE=ANOPLlUS, St. Fau. 



Agexia suecokticalis, n. sp. (5" Slender; blue- 

 black ranging to dark indigo blue. //'"</ opaqvic, very 

 finch' and CI inllucntly punctured, with a nut \cry obvious 

 stria"extendinglV(im between the antenna' to Ihc ante- 

 rior ocellus, "clypeus widely and Mjuarely truncate. 

 Face, extending "upwards and outwards Irom the origin 

 of each antenna so as to strike the inner line of each 

 eye at an angle of about 45°, and also the clypeus, both 

 white, except a sii\uu-e black spot occupying the whole 

 length of the lace below the antennie anil connecting 

 with a large basal black blotch on the clypeus, not ,quite 

 attaining "its aiiteiior margin. All the above white 

 parts, including the two "black spots, covered with 

 short dense prostrate white pubescence. Labrum and 

 palpi pale dull rufous. Antenna' brown-black above, 

 dull reddish brown beneath . Occiput laterally with long 

 white hairs. Tlmni.e sculptured as the head, with white 

 pubescence beneath and behind; often brilliant indigo 

 blue, always more tinged with blue than the head and 

 abdomen. Ahdomui, slender, subpolished, almost micro- 

 scopically punctate and pubescent. Joint 1 elongate, 

 two and one-half times as wide at tip as at base, 

 its sides straight; joints 2-7 gradually dindnishing 

 in length; joint 7 white above. Legs black; the four 

 front legs, except their coxa; and trochanters, rufous; 

 their femora and tibi;u witli a superior blackish line, 

 and in the middle legs sometimes almost entirely black. 

 Wings tinged with dusky; veins and stigma dusky, 



