102 r. Johnson — Some Irish Hymenoplcra Acnleala. 33 

 SOME IRISH HYMENOPTERA AC ULEATA. 



BY REV. W. F. JOHNSON, M.A., F.E.S., M.R.I. A. 



Like other insects, the Aculeate Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees 

 and Wasps) suffered from the wet season, and I am conse- 

 quently onty able to present comparatively few species ; but 

 lack of quantity is redeemed by the quality of some of my 

 captures, as will be noted below. 



Pompihis gibbus is a very active insect, running and 

 flying among herbage so quickly as to make its capture 

 difficult, for it keeps so low that the net is very apt to be 

 diverted by hitting the sand or some tuft of grass. I met 

 with several on the sandhills at Portnoo, and have taken it 

 at Newcastle, Co. Down ; ' it has also been taken in several 

 localities in the South of Ireland. It frequents sandhills, 

 into which it burrows to make a nest for its larvae. It is 

 said to provision its nests with spiders, stung into a state of 

 paralysis, as so well described by J. H. Fabre in " Hunting 

 Wasps " ; but this I was unable to observe. 



Passaloecus monilicornis is distinguished from others of 

 its genus, in the male, by the form of its antennae, which arc 

 somewhat dilated in the middle, with the joints bead-shaped, 

 giving it a very distinct appearance. I took it in what I call 

 " lane," which is really my back avenue, where there is a^ 

 plentiful supply of bramble stems and old wood, in which , 

 it is said to make its burrows. I may remark that I have 

 examined a good many dead bramble stems without meeting 

 with the nests of this or any other species, but this is probably 

 my misfortune and not the fault of the Fossors. I have, how- 

 ever, found a piece of dead wood with burrows of something 

 in it, and I am waiting patienth^ till the spring to see if an}^- 

 thing will emerge. 



Crabro clavipes is a pretty little insect noticeable for its 

 very long " waist," which is really the first segment of its. 

 hind body. I took one in a window and another in one of 

 my fields on a very hot day at the end of August. As it is 



^ Iris/t Xaiuraiist, 1907, p. 244. 



