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Psyche 7:75-78, 1894.

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AFRICAN NOCTUE (HOLLAND),
Piy-ftf 7 075-80 (pre-lit))) h~p-;/psyche entciub org1717-0075.hml



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PSYCHE.
THE HABITS OF THE ACULEATE HYMENOPTERA.- IV. BY WILLIAM Ha ASHMEAD, WASHINGTON, D. C. The species in the genus Pom$ilus
Fabr., judging from the records, seem to have a diversity of habits. According
to Westwood, Powz$ilz~s wiger Fabr.
in England provisions its cells with
small Lepidopterous larvae ; Poeilus
furnipends Zett. with ants, while
Po~iZxs jetiolatus preys upon
spiders. Now no doubt this diversity
of habits will be found correlated by
structural differences, which should
be used in separating this extensive
genus into subgenera. In our fauna,
most of our species in this genus, or at least those whose habits are known,
feed upon spiders.
Mr. D. W. Coq~~illett has observed
in the West Pomj5ilus tenebroszis
dragging off 8 different spiders with
which to store its cells. Mr. Theo.
Pergande tells me he has observed
several different species belonging to
the genus Pompilus, in District of
Columbia, . Maryland, Virginia and
Missouri, carrying off spiders, while I
have observed the same thing in
Florida.
Family XIV. MASARIDAE. Noth-
ing positively seems to be known
respecting the habits of the few genera
and species comprising this family.
All our species are rare and occur in
the Western States.
Family X V. VESPIDAE. Packard
calls this family "one of the higher
families" and includes in it, as sub-
families, the Masaridae and Eumenidae,
placing it near the head of the Aculeata, next to the true bees, Anthophila.
This position I consider very unnat-
ural, as in structure and habits the
species comprising it are totally dif-
ferent from the true bees. The prono-
turn extends back to the tegulae as in
the Pompilidae, Sapygidae, Thynnidae,
Scoliidae and Mutillidae, and they agree with these families in structure, as well as with the fossorial wasps (except the
parasite families) in habits. They are
strictly predaceous wasps, insectivorous, and have no relation whatever with
the true bees.
Vespa and Polistes feed their young
upon the "chewed up fragments of
Lepidopterous and other insects," while
the Eumenidae build mud or clay cells
which they fill with dead or paralyzed
Lepidopterous and Coleopterous larvae
and possibly other insects, just as do
the Pompilidae.
The fact that some of them have three
sexes should have no weight against
stiucture and habits, and it should
not influence us in assigning the family its natural position, which is, in my
opinion, next to the family Pompilidae.




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PSYCHE. [May 1894.
The exotic species in the genus
Polybia St. Fargeau are said to enclose
their cells by a papery or external cover- ing, but this is not the case with
Polybia cubensis in Florida. This
species builds its papery comb just like Polistes, without a covering, attached
to 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 very
particularly or fully into a description of them now.
The Vespas as we all know were
"The first paper makers," and probably
suggested to some of the ancestors of
the human race the idea of manufac-
turing this now absolutely necessary
commodity.
In our fauna only three genera with
forty-five species are known.
Our most common species in the
genus Vespa Linn. are Ves$a maculata
Linn., V. germanica Fabr. and V.
diabolica Sauss. The former usually,
if not invariably, builds its nest on the limb of some tree, or under some old
shed ; the two latter in an excavation
in the ground or in old stumps ; both,
however, and in fact all species in this genus, enclose their combs in a globular papery covering. For a full account of
these interesting wasps and others
consult Walsh, Amer. ent., vol. i, pp.
138-141 ; Packard's Guide, p. 147 ; and
Marlatt, Proc. ent. soc., vol. ii, p. So. The different sexes of all of our
species are not known and some of our
species may be nothing but the sexes of
other species, as seems to have been
proved lately in the case of Vespa
cuneata and V. carolina. The former
is known only in the male and neuter
sexes ; the latter only in the female sex, and all of these were taken last fall from a single nest by Mrs. McKewen, in Vir-
ginia.
These, therefore, should be conjoined
as one species, under the older name of
V. carolina Drury.
The parasites of these insects in
Europe are Crypturus aryiolus Gras.,
Sphecophaya vesyarum Curtis, Rhip-
fhorus faradoxus, Diptera Anthomyia
incanurn and Volucellae, and Stylops,
while in America, Euceras burrus Cr.,
Mesostenus arvalis and M. thoracicus
Cr., TrigonaZys bipustulatus and Sty-
lops have been reared from them.
Family XVI. EUMENIDAE. This
is an extensive family and from an
economic standpoint of the greatest
importance to our farmers and fruit-
growers, very few of whom know any-
thing at all of the great benefit they
are deriving every year from these
brightly marked wasps. They are
known as L4potter-wasps,'7 from the
material used in constructing their cells. All the species prey upon destructive
Lepidopterous and Coleopterous larvae
or caterpillars and as the species are
very numerous they must destroy many
thousands during the year. The cater-
pillars, after first being paralyzed with their sting, are then stored up in their cells as food for their offspring, from six to a dozen or more being found in each
cell.
The species belonging to the genera
Zethus Fabr. and Eumenes Fabr., form
globular cells of clay or sand, or sand and



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mud mixed, which are attached by a
small pedicel to the twig of some shrub
or tree. These are filled %it11 larvae,
a single egg is placed in each cell and
all are hermetrically sealed up by a
cap of clay. The cell of Zethus spi-
nipes Say I have taken most frequently
in Florida, attached to the twig of the
Iron-tree, while Eumenes fraterna
Say is usually attached beneath one of
the large leaves of the Scrub Palmetto.
The latter species, according to Dr.
Harris, preys upon the Canker-worm
in Massachusetts, but in Florida and
elsewhere it also preys on other small
caterpillars. I have bred from these
cells in Florida Rhipi-phorus dimi-
dia tus .
In the south, Mmobia quadridens
preys upon large Cut-worms, as I have
frequently seen it carrying them into its cells, which were placed in the old bur- rows of the Carpenter-bee Xyloco-pa vir- ginica, the sides of which it had reno-
vated by a thin veneering of clay and
then filled with clay cells from the
bottom upwards. More than one wasp
was seen going in and coming out of a
single burrow and undoubtedly several
individuals live and work in harmony
together.
It is quite probable that the species
in the genus Odynerus were originally
wood-borers and sand-borers, although
now they are less particular in selecting a locality in which to nidificate, the
most insecure and oddest places imagin-
able being often selected by them.
Many now also appropriate the galleries
and cells made by different bees and
wasps, the old mud-dauber's cells beins- a favorite locality.
A few even con-
struct their cells in an irregular mass
of clay and sand surrounding a twig or
plant, which on first sight might be
easily mistaken for a clump of dried
mortar or sand.
All of the Odyneri store their cells
with Lepidopterous and Coleopterous
larvae ; and sometimes even with
Hymenopterous larvae belonging to the
destructive Saw-fly family Tenthredi-
nidae. Odynerus capa Sauss. was
observed by the Rev. T. W. Fyles to
provision its cells with the larvae of the Larch saw-fly Nematus erichsonii.
Indeed, the service of these insects to
the farmer and gardener must be of
incalculable value, as they destroy im-
mense numbers of the destructive
tineina, geometrina, tortricina, pyralina and noctuina larvae during the season.
In Florida, I have observed 0.
errinys St. Farg, making its nests in
the lock of my front door and in old
holes in my board fence. I have also
reared it many times from cells con-
structed in old oak-galls Am/hibolips
cinema. Nine specimens, varying
greatly in size, were reared from a
single gall. 0. aZbo$hale~atus Sauss.
has also been bred from the oak-gall
Am$hiboZi$s confluens Harris, in
Massachusetts, while 0. fulvipes Sauss.
was observed by Walsh building its
cell in a spool, certainly a queer and
insecure place. The habits of many
other of our species could be given but
these will be left for another paper.
Many of the Odyneri are parasitized
by species in the family Chrysididae
and a few bv two or three Ichneumonids.




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Linoceras jur/ceus Cr. is the only
ichneumonid reared from them in this
country.
Family A7VII. SAPYGIDAE. All
the species in this family, as well as in the 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 Sapyg'a,
by breeding the European Sapyga
punctata from the cells of Osmia hali-
cicola; also by his observation on
Safyga chelostome which is parasitic
on one of the bees, Chelostoma sp.
PaZochium @a& Spinola, rep-
resenting another genus in the family, is parasitic on Xylocopa violacea.
Notwithstanding the fact that in our
fauna, this family is represented by 2
genera and 22 species, no observations
have been published respecting a single
species.
In Dr. Riley's collection, now in the
National museum, is, however, a single
specimen of a Sapyga bred at Toronto,
Canada, by Mr. W. A. Williams from
the cells of PeZo/aeus cementarius.
Family X VIII. SCOLIIDAE. Very
little
seems to be known of the habits
of the 5 genera and 44 species of these
insects found in our fauna.
All reliable observations published
show the species are parasitic on various scarabaeid larvae and I believe most of
the species will be found to attack the
larvae of the Coleopterous family Scara- baeidae.
Ti/hia inornata Say has been bred
by Dr. Riley from Lachnosterna larvae,
while, as recorded by Mr. Howard, in
The Standard natural history, vol. ii,
p. 226, "P^pserini found the larva of
Scolia flavipes within the body of the
Lamellicorn beetle Oryctes nasicornis,
and similarly Coquerel states that ScoZia oryctophaga lives on Oryctes simia in
Madagascar. Sumichrast supposes that
the females of Scolia azteca lay their
eggs in certain larvae which abound in
tan at Tehuacan." In the South I have
seen our common Scolz'a nobih'tata
Fabr. preying upon what I take to be
the larvae of a Diplotaxis.
Family XIX. THYNNIDAE. This
family is closely related structurally to the preceding, and to the Mutillidae.
No species is described from North
America, unless we call the brief men-
tion of Thyznus californicus (Ent.
news, 1892, p. 104), by Wm. H. Patton,
a description. The family is well repre- sented in South America, Africa, and
Australia, and although there are
several hundred described species, up
to the present time, the habits of not a single species is known. The family is
probiibly parasitic on bees.
Family XX. MUTILLIDAE. This
family is extensively represented in our fauna by 8 genera and over 160 species,
many of the genera being characterized
from one sex, usually the male, the oppo- site sex being unknown.
It is to be
hoped that our students will make an
effort to discover the females in those
genera now known only in the male sex.
The species are without doubt para-
sitic in the nests of bees. Mutilla
euroi>aea is parasitic on Bombus lapi-




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dahs in Europe. In this country,
Mr. E. A. Schwarz has bred in
Alabama, Sphaero-pthaZmci.3 sanbornii
Blake, in both sexes, from the cells of an Andrenid, Nomia sp., while Dr. C.
V. Riley has bred SphaerojhtJzalma
balteola Blake from the cells of an
Anthidium sp. sent him from Florida.
The Ants comprising the families
XXI DORYLIDAE, XXII FORMICIDAE,
XXIII ODONTOMACHIUAE, XXIV PON-
ERIDAE, and XXV MYRMICIDAE, will
be treated in a separate paper.
Family XXVI. CHRYSIDIDAE. This
family is represented in our fauna by
eleven genera and seventy-seven species. It forms a connecting link, through the
family Proctotrypidae, with the HY-
MENOPTERA TEREBRANTIA, and the
species composing it are among the
most brilliant colored of our wasps.
Some of the species are said to be
b*inquilines" or "guest-flies," others true parasites, but I believe all are genuine parasites. Mocsary in his recent great
work, bLMonographia Chrysididariim
orbis ten-arurn universi" has brought
together, in a tabular form, all the
records of the rearings of these insects and it will be only necessary for me
here to mention the habits of some of
our own species.
Benj. D. Walsh seems to be the
only one in North America who has
made a record of the rearing of a
Species in this family. In Amer. ent.,
vol. I (1868), p. 135, he records hav-
ing bred Chrysis coerulans Fabr. var.
bella Cr. from Eumenes fraterna
Say.
In treating of the genus Trypoxyloq
I have already stated having seen
Chrysis verticalis Pattn. entering the
burrows of Trypoxylon carinz from
Fox, and this species is undoubtedly
parasitic on that wasp. In Florida,
I have bred Chrysis coeyulans Fabr.
and C. $eQulchra Cr. from the cells
of Pelofaeus cementarius Drury, while
from those of Odynerus padrisectus
Say issued Chrysis densa Cr.
I have now given a resume of the
habits of the Aculeate Hymenoptera,
arranging the families in what I con-
ceive to be their natural sequence, and
as the Chrysididae terminates the series, my address, already too long, comes
to an end.
FURTHER NOTES ON COLEOPTERA FOUND WITH ANTS. BY HENRY FREDERICK WICKHAM, IOWA CITY, IOWA. 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 state volume of Psyche.* Most of them are of affairs. The ants are identified by new, either as to the beetle or its host Mr. Theo. Pergande, whose authority and the few others relate chiefly to is amply sufficient guaranty as to cor- rectness. Most of the Staphylinidae are
* Page 321.
given on the word of Capt. Thos. L.




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