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The habits of the different species in the family Sphecidae are varied; 
some preying upon spiders; others on crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, 
cockroaches, etc., while still others prey upon cut-worms or other lepi- 
dopterous larvae. A large black digger-wasp belonging to the genus 
Sphex was observed carrying oft' a specimen of the cotton locust, Ore he 
limum gossypii. 
The blue digger-wasp (('Morion cceruleum Dr.) is a common species in 
all cotton fields and preys upon different species of crickets belonging to 
the genus Gryllus. 
The blue mud-dauber (Chalybion cceruleum Linn.) was also common. 
I examined several nests built on the rafters of a cotton-gin shed and 
found they were almost entirely filled with the large green spider. 
Oxyopes viridans, so common on cotton. 
The common mud-dauber (Pelopmis cementarius Dr.) was quite plen- 
tiful in the cotton fields, busily engaged in catching different spiders. 
From one of its nests I obtained no less than thirteen distinct species 
of spiders, although the most common of these was the Oxyopes viridan s 
The Philadelphia digger- wasp (Isodontia philadelphiea St. Farg.), 
although by no means common, was occasionally seen on cotton. It 
preys upon the cricket, (Ecanthus faseiatus Fitch. 
Ammophila pietipennis Walsh, A. vulgaris Cr., and A. gryphus Smith 
were also frequently met with in cotton fields, and I feel satisfied all 
prey on different lepidopterous larvae found on the cotton. 
In the family Pompilid* four species were common, viz.. Pompilus 
philadelphiea St. Farg., P. americanus Beauv., P. tropicus Linn., and 
P. cvthiope Cr. All are predaceous on spiders. 
The services performed by the species belonging to the family of 
paper-making wasps, or Vespidae, to the farmer, fruit-grower, and 
planter have never been thoroughly appreciated, and I am astonished 
to find so little in our literature concerning them. In many cases the 
services performed by these wasps are much more valuable than those 
of the true parasitic Hymenoptera, the ichneumon -flies, chalcis-flies, 
etc., and almost any one with a little observation of his own can readily 
substantiate this fact. The food of the young wasps is composed 
almost entirely of chewed-up caterpillars and other destructive insects, 
and supplied to them by either the worker or female wasp. 
The following species were observed in the cotton fields : 
The large-ringed wasp (Polistes annularis Linn.). This is one of the 
largest species in our fauna, and is common in the whole cotton belt. 
On August 14 I saw one of these large wasps seize a small-sized cotton 
worm, fly off with it to a neighboring bush, and then deliberately chew 
it up into small fragments, after which it flew away to its nest. 
The Canadian wasp (Polistes canadensis Linn.). A smaller species 
than the preceding, but bearing a slight resemblance to it, was also 
observed chewing up a caterpillar, but the name of the caterpillar was 
not ascertained. 
