AGELENA BRUNNEA — EUMENES OOAEOTATA. 



371 



Kumenea and Agelena. 



This little wasp constructs small globular cells of mud, and 

 fastens them to the stems of various plants, the common heath 

 being the greatest favorite, so that heath-covered commons are 

 likely to afford specimens of the nest and its architect. Each 

 nest contains only a single cell, and is only intended to rear a 

 single occupant. The wasp is a very useful insect, as it provisions 

 its nest with the larvas of small lepidoptera, each Eumenes grub 

 requiring a tolerably large supply of caterpillars. 



As is the case with so many insects, the Eumenes is greatly 

 subject to the attacks of parasites, which contrive to deposit their 

 eggs in the larvae in spite of the hard mud walls of the cell. Mr. 

 Smith mentions that he has had from the nest of the Eumenes 

 an ichneumon fly belonging to the genus Gryptus. 



In the following illustration are figured the nests of two in- 

 sects, both of them natives of tropical America, and both be- 

 longing to the hymendpterous order. The upper insect is known 

 to entomologists by the name of Trypoxylon aurifrons, but hn.s at 

 present no popular name. 



This insect makes a great number of earthen cells, shaped 

 something like those of the last-mentioned species, the cells being 

 remarkable for the form of the entrance, which is narrowed and 

 rounded as shown in^the figure. In some cases the neck is so 

 very narrow in proportion to the size of the cell, and the rim is so 



