LaBEIDjE. 
INSECTS. Sphegid^. 187 
petiole. There are five species of the genus indigenous- 
to the British islands. 
CEKCEEIS AEENARIA, as its name implies, burrows 
in sandy spots, where it may be met with abundantly 
in the month of July. It stores up different species 
of Curculionidae, taking any that may be abundant 
near its nest. 
CERCEKIS QUINQTJE-FASCIATA, is a local species, 
which seems to delight in frequenting the flowers of 
the wild parsnip. It selects hard-trodden pathways 
for its burrows, and provisions its cells with the Apion 
rufirostre. 
CERCERIS ORNATA, a variable and beautiful species, 
is found to be gregarious. It forms large colonies, and 
provisions its nest with different species of wild bees, 
such as the Halictus ruhicundus, Zonulus, &c. 
CERCERIS LABIATA conveys to its burrows speci- 
mens of the vaulting beetle, named Haltica tabida. 
Family — LAEEID.®. 
In this family the mandibles are notched outwardly 
towards their base ; the tibiae of the fore and middle 
legs have a single spine at their apex, while the tibiae 
of the hind pair have two spines. This structure 
indicates a peculiar habit in this family, of which there 
are two or three British genera. 
MISCOPHUS BICOLOR, one of these taken at Wey- 
bridge, provisions its nest with a small white-bodied 
spider, which is found commonly on heath. 
TACHYTES UNICOLOR is another rare and very local 
species of this family. It is met with in that warm 
spot, Sandown Bay in the Isle of Wight, in the month 
of July; it is an extremely active insect, flying with 
great rapidity. 
ASTATA BOOPS, so called from its large eyes, is 
another local insect, found on Hampstead Heath amongst 
the sand pits. Its usual prey appears to be the larva 
of a hemipterous insect of the genus Pentatoma, occa- 
sionally also capturing a small hymenopterous insect 
of the genus Oxybelus. 
Family — BEMBECIDHU. 
Of this family there is no British representative. The 
insects inhabit warm climates, and some of them are 
said to emit a rose-like scent. In the genus Bembex, 
the maxillse and labium are produced into a long beak, 
hence the speeies of Southern Europe is named Bemhex 
rostrata. This species constructs its nests in the soft 
light sea-sand, and catches its prey on the wing. This 
prey consists chiefly of flies. 
Family— NYSSONID.®. 
In this family the mandibles are not notched beneath, 
and the legs are subspinose. It is so called from its 
typical genus Nysson, of which five British species are 
described. Two of these {N. trimaculatus and N, 
dimidiatus) are observed to feign death when alarmed, 
and to drop to the ground, like the Golden wasps. 
Of Gorytes there are five British species, some of 
which have been caught carrying the larva of the 
ApJirophora spumaria — that larva which disfigures 
plants with its spittle-like secretion. It carries these 
and other larvae to its nest. 
Of the genus Mellinus there are two British species. 
One of these, a black insect with four yellow abdominal 
bands {M. arvensis), is perhaps the most abundant 
fossorial insect in the country. When the parent Mel- 
linus has formed a burrow of the required length, and 
enlarged the extremity into a chamber of the proper 
dimensions, she issues forth in search of the proper 
nutriment for her young. This consists of various 
dipterous insects — flies of various genera are equally 
adapted to her purpose, Muscidae, Syrphidae, &c. — 
which she captures.* 
Family— SPHEGID AS. 
The insects of this family are marked by the pro- 
thorax not having the posterior angles prolonged to the 
base of the wings, and by' being narrowed in front, so as 
to be elongated into a sort of neck. The basal segment 
of the abdomen is narrowed into a long petiole. The 
mandibles are toothed on the inside. The Insects of this 
family, of which the species figured (Plate 7, fig. 11) 
is one of the most gigantic, are specially interesting 
on account of their habits ; the parent storing up for 
the young an ample provision of insects, but more 
particularly of spiders, which from their insect food 
and the softness of their parts may be looked on as 
a concentrated mass of the best juices of insects. 
We are informed that the large Brazilian species 
readily master spiders of the largest kind, such as 
Mygale,'\ rendering them powerless by their formidable 
sting. The spiders thus attacked die a lingering death, 
in some cases surviving five or six days. An egg is 
deposited on the first insect stored up, so that the 
larva is hatched by the time the cells in some instances 
are provisioned; but in this country our common 
Sand-wasp (Ammophila sabulosa) deposits the food at 
intervals, so that it is fresh and suited to the young 
larva, which lives principally on the juices and softer 
parts, leaving the head, legs, and wings untouched. 
Although Arachnida are the usual prey of the majority 
of these insects, still there is a species which at one 
time preys upon spiders, and at another chooses 
caterpillars, when each kind of food was equally at 
its command. Endless, indeed, are the variations of 
habit in the Hymenoptera ; the more they are inves- 
tigated, the greater will be our admiration of their 
wonderful instinct and tact in adapting their operations 
according to circumstances; and when unimpeded in 
them, of the beauty and fitness of their architectural 
elevations. 
Ammophila sabulosa (A. vulgaris, Kirby) forms its 
burrow in sandy situations, with a chamber at its 
extremity. Into this she conveys the caterpillar, and 
deposits an egg on it. She subsequently stores up three 
or four additional ones, and her task is completed. J 
Each time that she deposits a caterpillar, she carefully 
* Annals and Magazine of Natural Historj’, vol. x.x., p. 395. 
t A genus of hairy-bodied spiders, often called Bird-catching 
spiders. 
J Catalogue of British Fossorial Hymenoptera, p. 80. 
