BEES, WASPS, ANTS, ETC. 529 



Guide, and which is referred to l^achytes, is stated by Patton to belong to Sphex. 

 The American Tachytes harpax has been observed by the latter author carrying to 

 her nest a female specimen of XypMdium brevipenne, but beyond this no observations 

 have been made upon the habits of American species of this genus. 



In the sub-family Spheginse, the prothorax is narrowed in front, forming a sort of 

 a neck, the basal segment of the abdomen is narrowed into a long petiole, and the 

 mandibles are internally dentate. In habit the members of this sub-family differ 

 decidedly, many species digging burrows in the soil, while others are " mud-daubers," 

 plastering their earthen cells upon the walls of houses. AmmopMla digs rather a 

 deep burrow, with a chamber at its extremity. The female of A. sabulosa provisions 

 her nests with caterpillars, often selecting large cut-worms. Usually four or five 

 caterpillars are placed in a single nest, and each time that one is deposited the female 

 carefully stops up the entrance with a few pebbles until her return. If the weather 

 is favorable the nest is completed and filled in a few hours, and she then proceeds to 

 construct a fresh burrow. The same species is said to occasionally attack spiders, and 

 A. viatica invariably collects these latter insects. Aminophila pictipetmis provisions 

 its nests with cut-worms, in South Illinois. 



The genus Ampulex is said to be parasitic in its habits, A. sihirica ovipositing in 

 the bodies of cockroaches at Sierra Leone. The genus Sphex is fossorial, although 

 there seems to be no hesitation on the part of certain species in appropriating the bur- 

 rows of other insects. Sphex tibialis has been reared from cocoons occupying a 

 tunnel of Xylocopa virginica. Sphex ichneumonea digs rapidly into hard ground, 

 using both jaws and fore legs in the process, and a single female completes two or 

 three burrows five inches deep in the course of an afternoon. She preferably provi- 

 sions her cells with Orchelimum. and allied "forms. An exception to the burrowing 

 habit is seen in the case of Sphex lanierii, which makes its cells of a cottony sub- 

 stance and places them in the roll of a large, curved leaf. 



The mud-daubers of this sub-family belong principally to the genus Pelopceus, and 

 are dark, slender insects, with long, petiolated abdomens. Their cells of clay are 

 plastered in all sorts of secluded places, on the under side of fence rails, in barns and 

 out-houses, and even the inner walls of dwelling-houses are frequently disfigured by 

 them. The cells are provisioned with spiders, flies and caterpillars. Tlie finding of 

 numerous puparia of a Sarcophaga in the cells of Pelopceus flavipes in Texas seems 

 to point to the fact that the female flesh fly takes ad\'antage of the food stored by the 

 dauber as admirably adapted to the uses of her own larvae. The ichneumonid 

 Cryptus jitnceus, lays its egg in the lar\'a of Pelopmus, and its larva subsequently, 

 after destroying the larva of the mud-dauber, spins for itself a thin, white cocoon 

 within the cell. The beetle Trogoderma ornutum is also frequently found feeding on 

 the dried remains of the spiders after the adult Pelopams has issued from the cell. 

 Pelopceus cceruleus is frequently found upon the cotton jilant in the Southern States, 

 and has been observed to capture the half-grown cotton worms. 



The sub-family Mellininae has been erected for the interesting genus MeUinus. The 

 head is large, the legs slender and slightly spinose, and the abdomen lanceolate, with 

 a long petiole. The anterior wings have one marginal and four submarginal cells. 

 The habits of the typical species, MeUinus arvensis, are briefly as follows : The female 

 digs a burrow in sandy soil, enlarging the extremity into a chamber, .and proceeds to 

 store it with various dipterous insects. A favorite hunting-ground is a bit of cow 

 dung, on which sometimes several females will settle to await their prey. As the fly 

 VOL. ir. — 34 



