90 BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 1, NO. 2. 
caus^ht her as she came out, and then dug out the grasshopper, 
hut found no egg, so that she would prohahly have brought in a 
second victim had we let her go. The tunnel ran in obliquely for 
an inch and a half, the pocket at the end being two inches below 
the surface. 
Cerceris fumi-pennis Say* 
While working on the island on July twenty-third we noticed 
a large, open nest in a very bare, exposed position. The hole was 
surrounded by the heaped up earth that had been removed, giv- 
ing it the characteristic appearance of Cerceris. We spent several 
hours in the vicinity, both on this day and the next, but caught no 
glimpse of the owner. On the morning of the twenty-fifth we 
were at work early, and saw her open the nest at half past nine. 
At ten she flew away, leaving the hole open, and forty-five minutes 
later she returned with a large beetle, Chrysobofhris 4-iiupressa, 
which, while on the wing, she carried in her falces, supporting it 
by all the legs. When she alighted she let down the second and 
third pairs of legs. We caught her and took the 1)eetle, which 
was quite dead, since we tested it closely during the next twenty- 
four hours without getting the slightest response to stimulation. 
Ammophila polita Cresson. 
This species, which we have nev^er seen at Pine Lake, is very 
common in the sandy fields to the south of Milwaukee. Our 
observations upon it were made on the tenth of September, in 
bright, clear weather. Half a dozen individuals were working 
within a few rods of each other, their method being similar to 
that of A. yarrozvii, described by Dr. Williston, and having an 
especial interest as it shows a transition stage between the wasps 
that provide the store of food for the larva all at once, and those 
that feed their young all through the larval period. A. nniaria 
rarely flies with her prey, but this wasp, although her caterpillars 
are not very much smaller, and she herself is no larger, carries 
her booty lightly on the wing, only occasionally alighting to run 
a few steps. She has to do more work than iirnaria, taking five 
or six caterpillars instead of two, and this method of progression 
has the advantage of rapidity. 
The first wasp that we saw was just alighting, with a medium- 
sized green caterpillar, near a partly closed nest. WHien disturbed 
she flew away, but soon returned, dropped her prey half an inch 
from the nest, proceeded to clear the opening, ran inside to see 
that all was right, and then backed in with the caterpillar. Emerg- 
ing after a few minutes she placed a small pebble in the doorway, 
which was thus partly closed, and flew away. She brought three 
