MEMBKAH^E-WINGED INSECTS. 



275 



470. Tlie Mud-wasp, Fig. 213, is one of the sand-bur- 

 rowers. The fol- 

 lowing is the ac- 

 count given of it 

 by Jaeger. "This 

 insect is more than 

 an inch long, and 

 of a dark blue- 

 purple color. It 

 makes its abode 

 in the loose, sandy 

 ground, and when 

 digging its hole re- 



Fig. 2i3.-The Mud-wasp. scmblcs a dog dig- 



ging after mice, throwing the earth under it toward its 

 hind body with its fore feet. If the pile of sand be- 

 comes too high or troublesome, it places itself upon it, 

 and throws the earth behind it with great force until it 

 is leveled. As soon as its subterranean abode is pre- 

 pared, it seizes a large Spider, or a caterpillar, or some 

 other insect, stings it in the neck, and then carries it into 

 its hole. It is curious to see one of these Wasps take 

 hold of a Cockroach, seizing it by one of its long anten- 

 nse, and continually walking backward, compelling the 

 Cockroach to follow, notwithstanding its great reluctance 

 and constant opposition, until both have arrived at the 

 hole, where the Wasp kills it by a sting in the neck, then 

 tears into pieces, and carries it into her subterranean 

 dwelling as food for her offspring." 



471. The family of Vespidae, or true Wasps, is distin- 

 guished from the other Hymenoptera by the folding of 

 the wings when at rest throughout their entire length. 

 They are generally not solitary, but social, the communi- 

 ties, however, being small. The neuters are not, like the 

 neuters of the Ant tribe, destitute of wings. Those 

 Wasps which are solitary have no neuters, and their hab- 

 its are like the diggers just noticed. There are many 



