376 
CUTWORMS AND THEIR HYMENOPTEROUS ENEMIES. 
We have lately received from Mr. I. W. La Munyon, of the Colorado 
Weather Service, specimens of a digger-wasp, Ammophila luctuosa Sm., 
and an Ichneumonid, Cryptus robustus Or., with interesting notes on 
their habits. The digger-wasp, like other species of the genus Ammo- 
phila, provisions its nest with caterpillars. The species in question, 
according to Mr. La Munyon, preys upon certain cutworms, which he 
states are very destructive to crops in his vicinity. The wasp was 
observed to dig up the cutworms, sting them, dig a new hole in the 
earth, and then bury them after depositing eggs upon them. An indi- 
vidual was noticed July 8 selecting a place to dig for a cutworm. It 
rested prostrate on the ground with antennae outstretched, also touch- 
ing the ground, occasionally circling about in a space of about 6 inches 
diameter, and after selecting the proper spot soon unearthed the cut- 
worm. 
The Ichneumonid also digs after the cutworms and deposits eggs 
upon them. This species will dig down about 2 inches, remain for some 
time at the bottom of the hole, apparently listening, when suddenly it 
again begins to dig, perhaps in a new direction, and soon finds its 
victim. 
The sting of the wasp paralyzes the cutworm, and the wasp there- 
after fills up the hole, hiding it carefully from view by restoring the 
earth to its natural condition, sometimes carrying stones and deposit- 
ing them on the spot where the hole was, as observed by Mr. Th. Per- 
gande and recorded in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society 
of Washington (vol. II, p. 256). The sting of the Cryptus, however, 
does not paralyze the cutworm, but the eggs which are inserted hatch 
into larvae, which do not interfere for a time with the feeding habits of 
the cutworm. The Cryptus makes no attempt to fill up its hole. 
BRAN AND PARIS GREEN FOR CUTWORMS. 
Mr. E. C. Allen, of Bonita, San Diego County, Cal., publishes in the 
California Fruit Grower, under date of May 26, an interesting account 
of his success in the use of bran and Paris green against cutworms, 
which infested his vineyard. He mixed three pounds of Paris green to 
a sack of rye bran, stirred it thoroughly, moistened it, and then 
threw a handful or so of the mixture about the trunk of each vine. 
He says that there were many cutworms in his vineyard, and that 
last year his vines were leafless from their work. This year ten pounds 
of Paris green and a few sacks of bran completely destroyed the worms 
in a vineyard of thirty acres before any damage was done. 
THE EMERGENCE OF PRONUBA FROM YUCCA CAPSULES. 
Mr. J. C. Whitten has just sent us a paper under this caption, 
reprinted from the Fifth Annual Report of the Missouri Botanical 
Gardens, in which he announces that during August, of 1893, he was 
