190 . EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Oh. Xn. 



commonly in Labuan with considerable rapidity for its heavy 

 body, and a loud, droning hum. It is black, with a rich me- 

 tallic gloss, which on the wings is of a fine purple, and the 

 posterior legs are thickly coated with hairs. They tunnel 

 into posts and other wooden substances, where they con- 

 struct ceUs in which they deposit their larvae, supplying them 

 with a fariuaceous paste of pollen, which they brush off and 

 collect by means of their hairy legs. Another Hymenop- 

 terous insect of large size, and whose habits were very in- 

 teresting, was a species of Sphex. I watched this insect 

 construct its clay ceU upon the back of a window-shutter 

 in the verandah. Having brought some moist clay in its 

 mouth, it daubed it in a circular form upon the wood, and 

 returning frequently with fresh mud, it completed the cell in 

 about two hours. When finished this clay cradle was about 

 1^ inch in diameter, and about Ij high. As it came back 

 repeatedly with a fresh stock of clay, it was amusing to see 

 it search for its chosen site. There were several shutters 

 in the verandah, all very much alike, and which should pro- 

 perly have been close back against the wall, but some of them 

 were about a foot or eighteen inches from the wall, and this 

 one was so placed. The Sphex would fly into the verandah 

 after an absence of a few minutes, and try several shutters 

 before he came to the right one upon which the cell was 

 building. It is the habit of these insects to deposit their 

 eggs in this cell, placing therein also some disabled cater- 

 pillars or grubs which cannot escape, so that the larvae, 

 when hatched, at once find a ready supply of food. The 

 wasp most frequently met with in the jungle was a moderate- 

 sized species (Bembex melancholia), with the abdomen 

 banded with a metallic blue and black. In sandy spots a 

 large and very long-waisted insect, of very venomous aspect, 



