J934] Pompilid Wasps and Prey Transportation 
241 
POMPILID WASPS AND PREY-TRANSPORTATION 
BY WATER 
By Phil Rau 
Kirkwood, Mo. 
One of the most interesting items of wasp behavior is re- 
ported by Needham and Lloyd 1 on the use of water as a 
medium for the easy transportation of spider prey by Prioc- 
nemis flavicornis. This Pompiled wasp was occasionally 
seen on Fall Creek, New York, where it combines flying and 
water transportation. 
‘'Beavers swim with boughs for their dam, and water- 
striders run across the surface carrying their booty, but 
there is a wasp that flies above the surface towing a load too 
heavy to be carried. The freight is the body of a huge black 
spider several times as large as the wasp. It is captured by 
the wasp in a waterside hunting expedition, paralized by a 
sting adroitly placed, and is to be used for provisioning the 
nest. It could scarcely be dragged across the ground, that 
is with the dense vegetation of the waterside ; but the placid 
stream is an open highway. Out into the surface the wasp 
drags the huge limp, black carcass of the spider, and, mount- 
ing into the air with her engines going and her wings stead- 
ily buzzing, she sails away across the water, trailing the 
spider, and leaving a wake that is a miniature of a passing 
steamer. She sails a direct and unerring course to the 
vicinity of her burrow in the bank, and brings her cargo 
ashore at some nearby landing. She hauls it upon the bank 
and then runs to her hole to see that all is ready. Then she 
drags the spider up to the bank and into her burrow, having 
so saved much time and energy by making use of an open 
waterway.” 
It would seem from the records that this highly intelligent 
behavior is an isolated case; therefore the purpose of this 
note is to record three similar instances of this singular be- 
havor. It is however to be regretted that in all three cases 
was it impossible to get either Pompilid or spider for iden- 
tification. 
a Life on Inland Waters, page 331, 1916. 
