58 
Psyche 
[ March 
During 1931, while the senior author was on the Harvard 
Zoological Expedition to Australia, he made a few observa- 
tions on a Bembix colony which was storing its burrows 
with very unusual prey. At 3.30 p. m. on September 27, 
he was resting on the sandy shore of Lake Violet, a beauti- 
ful body of brackish water about 6 miles south of Wiluna, 
in the dry interior of Western Australia. As he was sitting 
in the shade of some bushes, he noticed almost at his feet a 
flourishing colony of an undetermined species of Bembix. 
The sand containing their burrows was so hot that the in- 
sects were able to open them only by practicing the interest- 
ing tactics described by R. N. Chapman for bembicine 
wasps in Minnesota. 4 After locating the position of their 
nests, they would swoop down to the glowing surface of the 
sand, hastily scratch for a few seconds and then rise in the 
air to cool off. Frequent repetition of this behavior finally 
enabled them to penetrate the hot surface layer and enter 
their burrows. From time to time a Bembix would arrive 
with a slender object clasped to its thorax with the posterior 
legs, and projecting far beyond its abdomen. Closer in- 
spection showed that the prey was a blue damsel fly which 
the junior author has identified as Austrolestes annulosus 
(Selys). After opening its burrow, the wasp very deftly 
slipped into it without releasing its prey. Three specimens 
of this insect, each netted with a wasp by Dr. P. J. Darling- 
ton, Jr., on October 2, proved to be males. Time did not 
permit an examination of the burrows, but there could be 
no doubt that all the wasps of the colony were storing only 
damsel flies as food for their larvae. Indeed, these insects 
seemed to be the only available prey at the time. Diptera 
were extremely scarce on the shores of the lake, probably 
because they were being constantly devoured by the damsel 
and dragon flies, which were hawking about in great num- 
bers. On the plants surrounding the lake in which they had 
passed their nymphal stages, the exuviae were everywhere 
in evidence. It would seem, therefore, that in this locality 
the Bembix, being unable to secure their customary prey, 
4 Ecology 7: 425. 1926. 
