Transactions Texas Academy of Science. 
75 
lively. One, indeed, after I had dug out the nest, very nearly got 
away from me. The smaller pocket contained but one large and 
one small cricket, both very mnch alive. The larva in each case 
had attached itself to the prosternum of the most active cricket and 
curved around the body of its host, thus embracing it for better 
protection. Larval americana does not eat any of the hard parts 
of its viand, but reaches into the thorax, abdomen, head and legs 
to procure the meat and suck the juices. After five days the older 
larva (ca. six days old) had devoured its store of food while the 
other had eaten but one large cricket. Both spun an imperfect 
cocoon and soon died. 
Tacky tes abductus (Fox), var. ? is a rather common Larrid in 
this locality. The wasp is black and in the sunlight there is a 
shimmer of bronze between the segments of the abdomen. The 
species catches nymphal short homed grasshoppers, carrying then? 
closely pressed to her venter w:ith her legs. She is to be admired 
for the reluctance with which she betrays the whereabouts of he 
nest. 
(b) Priononyx Thomae (Fabre), the Locust Killer. 
As late as October 9th, after her northern cousins had begun to 
lose interest in the affairs of life, Priononyx Thomae was as busy 
as ever. My only specimen of this interesting wasp flew up from 
her nest as I came down the well-worn path where she was at 
work. A flash of red was all I saw at fimt; from this and from 
the shape of the nest on which she was engaged, being a round hole 
leading straight down, I was led to believe tV at the creature I had 
disturbed was none other than Ammophila. Priononyx soon re- 
turned, however, and proved that she. was an envirely new acquaint- 
ance, though her subsequent actions clearly showed that both she 
and Ammophila had inherited mental traits frovr the same not 
very distant ancestors. She is more stoutly built than A. procera , 
is smaller and is black with the exeeption of her abdomen which is 
bright red in color. 
x A faster worker never lived than P, Tomae . But her speed 
is due to a deliberate haste and not to the insane, wasteful hurry that 
seems to characterize the actions of many species of Pompilus . At 
1 :30 she returned to her burrow which she had dug down to the 
length of her body. After working at it for a minute she aban- 
doned the nest for some reason, filled it with sand to the top and 
started a new one near by. Although digging in a well-worn grav- 
elly pathway she made astonishing progress. Biting the pebbles 
