aculeate hymenoptera.--iv. 2omflilus pomilus fumiennds...

THE HABITS OF THE ACULEATE HYMENOPTERA.--IV.

BY WILLIAM H. ASHMtAD WASHINGTON D. C.

The species in the genus Pompilus 37amily XV. VESPIDAE. PackardFabr., judgingfl’om the records, seem to calls this family "one of the higherhave a diversity of habits. According families" and includes in it, as sub-to Westwood, 2omflilus niger Fabr. families, the Masaridae and Eumenidae,in England provisions its cells with placing it near the head of the Aculeata,small Lepidopterous larvae; Pomilus next to the true bees, Anthophila.fumiennds Zett. with ants, while This position I consider very unnat-Pomiilzs petiolatus preys upon ural, as in structure and habits thespiders. Now no doubt this diversity species comprising it are totally dif-of habits will be fouled correlated by ferent from the true bees. The prono-structural diflhrences, which should turn extends back to the tegulae as inbe used in separating this extensive the Pompilidae, Sapygidae, Thynnidae,genus into subgenera. In our fauua, Scoliidaeand Mutillidae, and they agreemost of our species in this genus, or at with these families in structure, as wellleast those whose habits are known, as with the fossorial wasps (except thefeed upon spiders, parasite families) in habits. They are

Mr. D. W. Coquillett has observed strictly predaceous wasps, insectivorous,in the West Pompilus tene3rosus and have no relation whatever withdragging off 8 different spiders with the true bees.which to store its cells. Mr. Theo. Vespa and Polstes feed their youngPergande tells me he has observed upon the "chewed up fragments ofseveral different species belonging to Lepidopterous and other insects," whilethe genus Pompilus, in District of the Eumenidae build mud or clay cellsColumbia,. Maryland, Virginia and which they fill with dead or paralyzedMissouri, carrying off spiders, while I Lepidopterous and Coleopterous larvaehave observed the same thing in and possibly other insects, just as doFlorida. the Pompilidae.Family X2rI. MASARIDAE. Noth- The fact that some of them have three

ing positively seems to be known sexes should have no weight againstrespecting the habits of the few genera structure and habits, and it shouldand species comprising this family, not influence us in assigning the familyAll our species are rare and occur in its natural position, which is, in mythe Westerr States. opinion, next to the family Pompilidae.

76 PSUCttE. May 894.

The exotic species in the genustolybia St. Fargeau are said to enclosetheir cells by a papery or external cover-

ing, but this is not the case with)olybia cubensis in Florida. This

species builds its papery comb just likePolistes, without a covering, attachedto the twig of an orange tree.The habits of the genera Vespa and

Polistes Latr. are probably known to

most of us here and I shall not go veryparticularly or fully into a descriptionof them now.The Vespas as we all know were

"The first paper makers," and probablysuggested to some of the ancestors ofthe human race the idea of manufac.turing this now absolutely necessarycommodity.

In our fauna only three genera withforty-five species are known.Our most common species in the

genus Vespa Linn. are Ve@a maculataLinn., V. germanica Fabr. and V.diaolica Sauss. The former usually,if not invariably, builds its nest on thelimb of some tree, or under some oldshed;the two latter in an excavationin the ground or in old stumps; both,however, and in fact all species in thisgenus, enclose their combs in a globularpapery covering. For a full account ofthese interesting wasps and othersconsult Walsh, Amer. ent., vol. i, pp.I38-I4r Packard’s Guide, p. 47; andMarlatt, Proc. ent. soc., vol. ii, p. 80.The different sexes of all of our

species are not known and some of our

species may be nothing but the sexes ofother species, as seems to have beenproved lately in the case of Vespa

cuneata and V. carolina. The formeris known only in the male and neutersexes; the latter only in the female sex,and all of these were taken last fall froma single nest by Mrs. McKewen, in Vir-ginia.

These, therefore, should be conjoinedas one species, under the older name ofV. carolina Drury.The parasites of these insects in

Europe are Cryplurus argiolus Gras.,Sbhecobaga vesbarum Curtis,#horus paradoxus, Diptera tnthomyiaincanum and Volucellae, and Stylops,while in America, _uceras burrus Cr.,Mesostenus arvalis and _/hr. thoracicusCr., Trigonalys 3@uslulatus and Sty-lops have been reared from them.2amily Y VZ. EUMINIDA]. This

is an extensive family and from aneconomic standpoint of the greatestimportance to our farmers and fruit-growers, very few of whom know any-thing at all of the great benefit theyare deriving every year from thesebrightly marked wasps. They areknown as "potter-wasps," from thematerial used in constructing their cells.

All the species prey upon destructiveLepidopterous and Coleopterous larvaeor caterpillars and as the species are

very numerous they must destroy manythousands during the year. The cater-pillars, after first being paralyzed withtheir sting, are then stored up in theircells as food for their offspring, from sixto a dozen or more being found in eachcell.The species belonging to the genera

Zethus Fabr. and 2umenes Fabr., formglobular cells of clay or sand, or sand and

mud mixed, which are attached by a a favorite locality. A few even con-small pedicel to the twig of some shrub struct their cells in an irregular massor tree. These are filled with larvae, of clay and sand surrounding a twig ora single egg is placed in each cell and plant, which on first sight might beall are hermetrically sealed up by a easily mistaken for a clump of driedcap of clay. The cell of Zethus spi- mortar or sand.

niibes Say I have taken most frequently Jkll of the Odyneri store their cellsin Florida, attached to the twig of the with Lepidopterous and ColeopterousIron-tree, while Euraenes fralerna larvae; and sometimes even withSay is usually attached beneath one of Hymenopterous larvae belonging to thethe large leaves of the Scrub Palmetto. destructive Saw-fly family Tenthredi-The latter species, according to Dr. nidae. Odynerus cabra Sauss. wasHarris, preys upon the Canker-worm observed by the Rev. T.W. Fyles toin Massachusetts, but in Florida and provision its cells with the larvae of theelsewhere it also preys on other small Larch saw-fly 2Vematus erichsonii.caterpillars. I have bred from these Indeed, the service of these insects tocells in Florida Rhipiphorus dimi- the farmer and gardener must be ofdiatus, incalculable value, as they destroy im-

In the south, jhrono3ia quadridens mense numbers of the destructivepreys upon large Cut-worms, as I have tineina, geometrina, tortricina, pyralinafrequently seen it carrying them into its and noctuina larvae during the season.cells, which were placed in the old bur- In Florida, I have observed O.rows oftheCarpenter-beeXylocopa vir- errinys St. Farg. making its nests inginica, the sides of which it had reno- the lock of my front door and in oldvated by a thin veneering of clay and holes in my board fence. I have alsothen filled with clay cells from the reared it many times from cells con-bottom upwards. More than one wasp strutted in old oak-galls Amphi3olipswas seen going in and coming out of a cinerea. Nine specimens, varyingsingle burrow and undoubtedly several greatly in size, were reared from aindividuals live and work in harmony single gall. O. al3obhaleratus Sauss.together, has also been bred from the oak-gall

It is quite probable that the species Amphibolips conjquens Harris, inin the genus Odynerus were originally Massachusetts, while O.fulviesSauss.wood-borers and sand-borers, although was observed by Walsh building itsnow they are less particular in selecting cell in a spool, certainly a queer anda locality in which to nidificate, the insecure place. The habits ot manymost insecure and oddest places imagin- other of our species could be given butable being often selected by them. these will be left for another paper.Many now also appropriate the galleries Many of the Odyneri are parasitizedand cells made by different bees and by species in the family Chrysididaewasps, the old mud-dauber’s cells being and a few by two or three Ichneumonids.

78 PSYCttE. [May x894.

Linoceras jurceus Cr. is the onlyichneumonid reared from them in thiscountry.tamil] XVII. SAPYGIDAE. All

the species in this family, as well as inthe three following families--the Tynni-dae, Scoliidae and Mutillidae--are with-out doubt parasitic.Mr. R. Desvoidy was the first to

prove the parasitic habits of Sa2byga,by breeding the European Sajbygafluzctata from the cells of Osmia hali-cicola; also by his observation on

Sapyga chelostomae which is parasiticon one of the bees, Chelostoma sp.Palochium reflandum Spinola, rep-

resenting another genus in the family, is

parasitic on Aylocofla violacea.Notwithstanding the fact that in our

fauna, this family is represented by 2

genera and 2z species, no observationshave been published respecting a singlespecies.

In Dr. Riley’s collection, now in theNational museum, is, however, a singlespecimen of a Sapyga bred at Toronto,Canada, by Mr. W. A. Williams fromthe cells of Pelopaeus cementarius.’amily XVIIZ. SCOLIDA.. Very

little seems to be known of the habitsof the 5 genera and 44 species of theseinsects found in our fauna.

All reliable observations publishedshow the species are parasitic on variousscarabaeid larvae and I believe most ofthe species will be found to attack thelarvae of the Coleopterous family Scara-baeidae.

Tiphia inornata Say has been bredby Dr. Riley from Lachnosterna larvae,

while, as recorded by Mr. Howard, inThe Standard natural history, vol. ii,p. zz6, "Passerini found the larva ofScolia flavipes within the body of theLamellicorn beetle Orycles nasicornis,and similarly Coquerel states that Scoliaorycojbaga lives on Orycles simia inMadagascar. Sumichrast supposes thatthe females of Scolia azleca lay theireggs in certain larvae which abound intan at Tehuacan." In the South I haveseen our common Scolia noMlilalaFabr. preying upon what I take to bethe larvae of a Diplotaxis.2amily .X’LY. Tx,mg. This

family is closely related structurally tothe preceding, and to the Mutillidae.No species is described from NorthAmerica, unless we call the brief .men-tion of" 2t’hynnus cal(fornicus (Ent.news, x89 p. o4), by Win. H. Patton,a description. The family is well repre.sented in South America, Africa, andAustralia, and although there areseveral hundred described species, upto the present time, the habits of not asingle species is known. The family isprobably parasitic on bees.Family XX. MUTILLIDAE. This

family is extensively represented in ourfauna by 8 genera and over 6o species,many of the genera being characterizedfrom one sex, usually the male, the oppo-site sex being unknown. It is to behoped that our students will make aneffort to discover the females in thosegenera now known only in the male sex.The species are without doubt para-

sitic in the nests of bees. 2Ffutillaeuro2baea is parasitic on 2orabus la2bi-

May 894.] PS1"CH.E. 79

darius in Europe. In this country, and it will be only necessary for meMr. E. A. Schwarz has bred in here to mention the habits of some ofAlabama, Sibhceroplhalma san3ornid our own species.Blake, in both sexes, from the celIsofan Benj. D. Walsh seems to be theAndrenid, Nomia sp., while Dr. C. only one in North America who hasV. Riley has bred Sfllaaerophlhalma made a record of the rearing of a3alleola Blake from the cells of an species in this family. In Amer. ent.,Anthidium sp. sent lim from Florida. vol. (I868), p. 135 he records hay-

The Ants comprising the families ing bred Chrysis coerulans Fabr. var.XX[ DORYLIDAE, XXlI FORMICIDA=E, 3ella Cr. from 2umenes fraternaxx[II ODONTOMACHIDA:E, XXlV PON- Say.=ERIDA=E, and XXV MYRMICIDA=E, will In treating of the genus Tryfloxylon,be treated in a separate paper. I have already stated having seen

AFamiZyrV. CHRYSIDIDAE. This C]zrysis vertdcalis Pattn. entering thefamily is represented in our fauna by burrows of Tryioxylon car/n/fronseleven genera and seventy-seven species. Fox, and this species is undoubtedlyIt forms a connecting link, through tle parasitic on that wasp. In Florida,family Proctotrypidae, with the HY- I have bred Crys/s coerulans Fabr.M:ENOPT=ERA T=ER=EBRANTIA and the and C. erulc]ra Cr. from the cellsspecies composing it are among the of Pel@aeusceraentar[usDrury, whilemost brilliant colored of our wasps, from those of Odynerus uadr/sec3usSome of the species are said to be Say issued Crysis densa Cr.’inquilines" or ’guest-flies," others true I have now given a resum3 of theparasites, but I believe all are genuine habits of the A culeate Hymenoptera,parasites. Mocsary in his recent great arranging the families in what I con-

work, "Monographia Chrysididarum ceive to be their natural sequence, andorbis terrarum universi" has brought as the Chrysididae terminates the series,together, in a tabular form, all the my address, already too long, comesrecords of the rearings of these insects to an end.

FURTHER NOTES ON COLEOPTERA FOUND WITH ANTS.

BY H=ENRY FR=ED=ERICK WICKHAM, IOWA CITY, IO’A.

These records are offered as a con- doubtful species and are given as addi-tinuation of the series begun in the last tional evidence regarding the true statevolume of Psyche.* Most of them are of affairs. The ants are identified bynew, either as to the beetle or its host Mr. Theo. Pergande, whose authorityand the few others relate chiefly to is amply sufficient guaranty as to cor-

rectness. Most of the Staphylinidae are

*Page 3a,. given on the word of Capt. Thos. L.

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aculeate hymenoptera.--iv. 2omflilus pomilus fumiennds...

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