48 
Psyche 
[April 
Wahlgren, Ent. Tidskr. xxxi. 47, f. 3 (1910); 
Frey, Acta Fenn. xxxvii. (3) 8 (1913) 
imperfecta Loew 
Loew, Berl. Ent. Zts. ix. Cent. vi. 82 (1865) Platycnema 
Aldrich, Cat. Dipt. 342 (1905) f Platycnema. 
NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF CERTAIN WASPS OF THE 
GENUS ANCISTROCERUS (EUMENIDHC) 1 
By Leland H. Taylor. 
During the summer of 1921, while attempting to get some 
material for the study of the biology of the Chrysididse, I was 
able to make some fragmentary observations on three species of 
Eumenidee which I present here. 
The biology of various species of Eumenids has received 
much attention from both European and American observers, 
whose work cannot be reviewed in this paper. Particular men- 
tion should be made of the observations of Fabre (1882, 1884, 
1891), Ferton (1895, 1901-1921) and Roubaucl (1916) among 
Europeans, and of the studies of such American workers as the 
Peckhams (1900, 1905), Hartman (1905), Hungerford and 
Williams (1912), Isley (1913) and the Raus (1918). With the 
exception of Ancistrocerus capra de Saussure, the species of 
Eumenidae treated in this paper have not been studied, and it 
is hoped that these notes, if presenting nothing particularly 
new, will help to confirm previous observations on this highly 
interesting group. 
The species which I have been permitted to observe are 
apparently those which are usually accustomed to nesting in 
suitable cracks and crevices of stone and wooden walls. Under 
ordinary circumstances, therefore, their workings are practically 
inaccessible, but by the use of artificial nesting places 2 it has 
iContributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Institution, Harvard 
University. No. 198. 
2 Both solitary wasps and bees have been induced by other investigators to nidificate in 
tubes of glass. See the papers of Fabre (1884) and Bordage (1912). 
