202 
HYMENOPTEBA. 
captive, but instead poses itself almost above the captive and holding the 
antenna? by its mandibles proceeds forwards, both captor and captive 
facing one way. In this wasp there is distinctly a marked display of a 
high degree of instinct (intelligence ?) in taking advantage of an eleva¬ 
tion to start on the wing with its pretty heavy load. The wasp drags 
the cricket to the foot of the nearest shrub or plant and slowly ascends 
to about a foot from the ground, and from there it starts on its wings 
with the prey. It continues thus often on its way to its nest, which is 
generally a hole on the side of the hard bank. An interesting point in 
the habits of this wasp is that it digs into the soil to find its prey even 
when the cricket has a burrow opening to the surface. On one occa¬ 
sion, one was observed flying over sandy soil; she selected a spot and 
commenced to dig ; when a little hole was made, she entered and came 
out carrying soil between her curved forelegs and her head, repeating 
this till there was a considerable heap of soil; this heap she then demol¬ 
ished by standing and kicking it away with her hind legs. While dig¬ 
ging, a cricket came out from a hole by her, was eventually seen, pur¬ 
sued and captured. 
Liris aurata. —This beautiful sand wasp is one of the most active 
among Sphegids. It is found in flower gardens and generally nests 
under thick bushes away from human observation. It is very often 
found haunting houses, especially store-rooms, in search of house crick¬ 
ets. The latter are notorious domestic pests attacking provisions, etc. 
This wasp, in frequenting dwellings, performs the part of an efficient 
natural check on these domestic pests. Pison includes small dark 
insects, of which P. rugosum , Sm., is common in the plains (Plate X, 
Fig. 9). Horne states that the nests of P. rufipes, Sm.,are nearly glob¬ 
ular, built in a group on a hanging creeper or tendril, and stocked 
with small spiders. 
Trypoxylon (Plate X, Figs. 10-11) is common in houses, and 1 have 
seen T. pileatvm, Sm., building in cane furniture in a verandah ; they 
are extremely slender graceful insects, storing small spiders in their mud 
nests : nests are also found in thatch, and on one occasion a female was 
seen plugging her nest, which was in a hollow reed previously utilised by 
Ceratina viridissima. The hollow is not lined but is partitioned off 
