SC0LIXD2E. 
193 
Males are smaller, more slender and usually have spines at the apex 
of the abdomen. 
Nothing appears to be on record as to the habits of this family in 
India ; as a whole they are probably parasitic upon the larvae of Coleop- 
tera in the soil, especially Scarabceidce; they persistently fly over the 
soil, but none have been reared ; Froggatt (Agri. Gazette , N .S. Wales, 
1902), records Dielis formosa , Guen., as an enemy of the beetle Xylotru - 
pes australicus, Thoms., in Queensland ; the wasp burrows down to the 
grub in the soil, stings and paralyses it, lays an egg on it and goes away ; 
the larva on hatching devours the grub and pupates there. It is 
highly probable that our species have similar habits. The wasps visit 
flowers, not to obtain pollen but to feed on nectar. 
Five genera and 87 species are recorded as Indian, of which nine 
are common in the plains. 
Tiphia rufo-femorata, Sm., is a small black insect with red posterior 
femora, widespread but not very common. G. E. Dutt has ascer¬ 
tained that Myzine dimidiata, Guer. (known from male only), couples 
with M. Madraspatana Sm. (known from female only), and presumably 
they are one species. 
Scolia includes large insects, thickly haired; S. quadripustulata, 
Fabr. (Fig. 103), is the very common species, black with the abdomen 
usually red on the side and sometimes 
across the upper surface. Elis falls into 
two series, according as it has two or three 
cubital cells. In the former are the com¬ 
mon species ; E. annulata, Fabr., is very 
common, the female black with white 
pubescence, the male with yellow bands 
across the abdomen..; the latter are com¬ 
monly captured asleep in the evening or 
early morning, on grass stems or plants, and 
it is no uncommon thing to see a number settling down for the night 
on a convenient cane leaf. Elis thoracica, Fabr., is the large black wasp 
that frequents cotton flowers, and which is, perhaps, an important 
factor in cross-fertilisation. Liacos analis , Fabr., is also common, 
black with a variable amount of red on the abdomen. 
Fig. 103.— Scolia quadri¬ 
pustulata. 
IIL 
13 
