PSYCHE 
VOL. XL 
JUNE, 1933 
No. 2 
UNUSUAL PREY OF BEMBIX 
By W. M. Wheeler and Richard Dow 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 
It is usually supposed that the solitary wasps of the genus 
Bembix always provision their burrows with Diptera. Only 
one observation to the contrary has ever been reported in 
detail . 1 One day while Dr. G. D. H. Carpenter was collect- 
ing Hesperiidse on a muddy road in East Africa, he saw a 
Bembix hunting. First it seized a lycsenid butterfly which 
it dropped, then it hovered over a skipper. Transferring 
its attention to another skipper, it pounced on its victim, 
and hung for a moment in the air. When Dr. Carpenter 
tried to catch it, the wasp flew off with its prey. 
In addition to this observation, Mr. W. A. Lamborn 2 has 
reported that several African species of Bembix take vari- 
ous Muscidse and Orthoptera, and according to Professor 
Flaminio Ruiz , 3 the wasps of the genus Bembix may feed 
their larvae with “certain Lepidoptera of smooth texture.” 
As the basis of the latter statement is unknown to the 
present authors, its accuracy must be questioned. 
iProc. Ent. Soc. London 1917: xli-xlii. 1918. 
2 Bull. Ent. Research 6: 63. 1915. 
3 Rev. Chilena Hist. Nat. 34: 156. 1930. 
