Patton.] 396 (January 21, 
distinct. Scutellum with a distinct median impression; the groove 
on upper face of metathorax represented by the fovea only. Water- 
bury, Ct., Aug. 18, 28, and 21. | 
¢. Length 12mm. Resembles the ?, but the spines of the tarsi 
are more slender, and an impressed line is apparent upon the disk of 
the metathorax. The antenne are more strongly crenulated 
beneath than in mandibularis ¢. The middle of the anterior mar- 
gin of the clypeus is thickened, and forms a broad angle beyond 
which extends the angulated labrum; on each side of the anterior 
margin of the clypeus are three distinct teeth. The sixth ventral 
and seventh dorsal segments are tufted with fuscous pubescence; - 
the seventh dorsal is silvery, the area not so distinctly defined later- 
ally as in mandibularis. The eighth ventral forms two broad lobes 
at the tip, separated by a deep and narrow notch. Waterbury, 
Ct., Aug. 5th. 
I have observed the female of Tachytes harpax carrying her prey, 
a female specimen of Xiphidium brevipenne Scudd. Capturing both 
together in a cyanide bottle, when the wasp alit on a leaf to get a 
new hold on her burden, I removed them from the bottle in a few 
minutes, after the wasp was dead, and it is worthy of note that two 
days after its removal from the bottle the Xiphidium was sensitive to 
touch and capable of slightly moving its limbs. Can this haye been 
due to a neutralization of the cyanide by the paralyzing effect of 
the wasp’s sting, or was it owing to the Xiphidium having greater 
natural power to withstand the cyanide? 
The European T. obsoletus was. observed by Fabre (Ann. Sci. 
Nat., rv ser., Zool. v1, p. 147, 1856), to provision its nest with the 
larvee of Oedipoda, and he observed TZ. tarsina capture a larval 
Acridian. The European T. pompiliformis, was “ frequently ” cap- 
tured .by Shuckard with a ‘small sandy-coloured caterpillar.’ 
Dahlbom saw it capture and drag to its nest the larva of Gryllus 
rufus; Smith took it with the pupae of grasshoppers, and Lichten- 
stein (Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr., (5) ili, p. exxii) observed it store its gal- 
leries with grasshoppers, (Chortipus). No observations had pre- 
viously been made upon the American species. 
In noting the nesting habits of a Brazilian species of Larra, Fred- 
erick Smith has stated incorrectly, (Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1859, p. 
55), that the tarsal claws of Tachytes are ‘‘ bifid”; they are simple, 
asin the other genera of the family, but stouter and with a more 
decided curve. The species of YTachytes are very partial to the 
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