1984] 
Frank — Fig wasps 
295 
slide forward and down — the pronotum dropping about 70° from 
horizontal while sliding over the mesonotum as an airplane-wing 
flap. The forecoxae move up flush against the mesosternum (Figs. 
2,3); simultaneous with the pronotum and head moving forward 
and down, the forecoxae slide posteriorly then laterally over the 
mesosternum. First the forecoxae are moved back so that they are 
medial to the pollen pockets, which are located laterally on the 
mesosternum (Figs. 3,4). (These pockets are loaded with pollen; the 
manner in which the wasp obtains this pollen is described in the next 
section.) The forecoxae are then moved laterally until they are over 
the pollen pockets, and a stiff row of bristles on the coxal-femoral 
joints is at the posterior ends of the pockets (Figs. 5,6). The wasp 
then moves her pronotum and head up and simultaneously slides 
the coxae forward through the pockets. This causes the coxal- 
femoral bristles moving through the pockets to act as rakes, which 
loosen a few pollen grains and move them to the forward edge of the 
pockets. An alternative interpretation of the action of the coxal rake 
is that it scoops pollen out of the mesothoracic pockets and into the 
coxal pockets (corbiculae, Fig. 7). The two interpretations are dis- 
cussed below in (ii). 
(ii) Collecting pollen grains in arolia. After pollen is loosened 
from the mesothoracic pockets, the tibiae are quickly moved 
upwards until they are flattened against the femorae, such that both 
the tibiae and femorae are parallel to the stigmatal surface and 
pulled in close to the body. The arolia at the tips of the foretarsi 
open into membranous scoops, and are very quickly brushed back 
and forth 3-5 times (n=6) in order to collect pollen. It is difficult to 
observe exactly where the pollen is collected. On three occasions I 
saw an arolium scoop pollen from the front edge of a thoracic 
pocket. In the remainder of my observations (approximately 50 
occasions) I was unable to determine whether the arolium obtained 
pollen from within or near the thoracic pocket, or from the coxal 
pollen pockets, as reported for Blastophaga estherae and B. tonduzi 
by Galil et al. (1973). Based on the structure of the coxal rake (Figs. 
5,6) and pattern of movements in (i), and my observations, I favor 
the interpretation that the pollen is usually collected by the arolia in 
or near the mesothoracic pockets. 
(iii) Transferring pollen from arolia to hypopygium. After pollen 
is collected in the arolia, the wasp reaches down with her forelegs 
and wipes the arolia upwards along the anterior edge of the hypopy- 
