196 



HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



illustrate the points of difference and similarity 

 between them, and will enable the student to identify 

 such as he may discover in future. 



KNOWN MIDDLESEX ALLOLOBOPHORAS. 





Segments occupied by 



Setae 



arranged 



in 



Species. 



Girdle. 



Tuber- 

 cula. 



First 

 Dorsal 

 Pore. 



, 1. Longa .... 

 2. Complanata . 

 . 3. Foetida . 



4. Subrubicunda . 



5. Chlorotica 



6. Turgida . . . 



28-35 

 28-37 

 26-31 

 26-32 

 29-37 

 28-34 



3 2 . 33> 34 



28-37 



28, 29, 30 



28, 29, 30 



3'» 33. 35 



3i» 33 



H 



it 



a 



± 

 I 



f Close 

 I Pairs. 

 /Unequal 

 I Pairs. 

 ( Wide 

 I Pairs. 

 1 Eight 

 I Rows, 

 f Close 

 I Pairs, 

 f Close 

 I Pairs. 



General Characters. 



1. Large, dark sienna brown. Generally mistaken for L. 

 terrcstrU. 



2. Needs further study as a native species. 



3. Body divided into bands of gold and brown. Smells very 

 foetid. 



4. Rose-red or light brown ; not so large as the last. 



5. Dirty green, sluggish : often curled up like a grub. 



6. Grey or pink, with dull orange girdle near the head. 



This genus is much more variable than the first. 

 The lip never cuts through the first ring entirely, and 

 the setae are often wide apart, while the colour ranges 

 from brown to rose-red, flesh, grey, green and 

 other shades. 



N.B. — In collecting worms it is important to select 

 such as have a girdle or swollen knob for identifying 

 the species. I shall be glad to examine and report 

 on worms sent me from any locality at home or 

 abroad. They must be placed in tin boxes lightly 

 filled with soft moss, all injured specimens being re- 

 jected, and addressed — The Grove, Idle, Bradford. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE HABITS OF A 

 MASON WASP. 



A SMALL wasp (Odynerus murareus) hovered 

 humming softly over a half-curled leaf of a 

 rose-bush. The wings vibrated so quickly they 

 seemed to involve the insect in a hazy vapour. 

 Small caterpillars were feeding on the leaves of the 

 bush, and some of the leaves were coiled by the 

 caterpillars into a tubular dwelling with a web, 

 preparatory to the caterpillars' assuming the pupa 

 state. One of the fine threads glistened in the 

 sunbeam, and following the wave of light its motion 

 gave, as it swayed backwards and forwards to the 

 ground I noticed a small green caterpillar half 

 suspended, half touching the earth. The length of 

 its silken rope exhausted for a time the secretion that 

 made it, and prevented it reaching the earth, where 

 the caterpillar intended protecting itself in some tiny 



fissure or crevice until it could feel the danger that 

 menaced it in its leafy dwelling on the rose-bush had 

 gone, and then to climb back there in safety. 



But the wasp had followed the caterpillar from the 

 curled leaf, apparently conscious that the thread was 

 limited, then darting, clung to the caterpillar, 

 swinging there. The additional weight of the wasp 

 broke the thread, and the wasp and caterpillar went 

 to the ground. The abdomen of the wasp curved on 

 to the caterpillar writhing in its secure grasp, this 

 action of the abdomen was evidently to sting the 

 caterpillar, for the latter soon lost all power and 

 became relaxed. The jaws of the wasp held it firm, 

 and the antenna; hung over it. The little wasp then 

 poised itself on its wings, as if to ascertain the weight 

 or balancing of its helpless load, before flying away 

 with it. It then rose, humming its way to the 

 drapery folds on a statue of Flora, where it had 

 constructed its first cell. It is curious that this same 

 statue, and almost the same part of it, has for several 

 years been selected by one of these wasps to build its 

 nest on. It is not reasonable to suppose it to be the 

 same insect that returns year after year to the same 

 spot. It implies that the place is selected so often 

 because of its adaptability to the requirements of this 

 species of mason wasp. May not this apply also to 



Fig. ir7- — Odynerus tnurareus. Natural size. 



many migratory birds, as the swailow tribe, that are 

 said to return to the same spot to build and rear their 

 young ? Not because the same spot is utilized by 

 the same species year after year, is it necessarily the 

 same individuals that return to it, but that it happens 

 to be selected by others of the same species because 

 of the special advantages existing there, inducing the 

 birds to select it so repeatedly. 



The wasp, after alighting upon the edge of its cell, 

 looked in, and as if its position was not convenient 

 for depositing the caterpillar, the industrious creature 

 moved a little further round its cell, then going in 

 once more, coiled the caterpillar among the others 

 round the single egg there. This caterpillar was the 

 last to be deposited in that cell, and the wasp, 

 apparently satisfied with the work, and knowing it 

 had stored the requisite amount of food for the 

 voracious grub about to turn from the egg, rested a 

 little time on the edge of the cell, pluming its antenna; 

 with its fore-legs and feet, and moving its head from 

 time to time from side to side on its pivot-like 

 neck, as though viewing and considering the sur- 

 roundings. When it was ready it soared away, quite 

 indifferent to the bees at clover-flowers on the 

 lawn, and the starlings whistling in the ash-trees. 



