Article beginning on page 335.
Psyche 7:335, 1894.

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PSYCHE;.
HABITS AND PARASITES OF A NEW CALIFORNIAN WASP. BY A. DAVIDSON, M. D., 1-0s ANGELBS, GAL. While on a visit to Wilson's Peak,
one of the highest mountains of the
Sierra range north of
Los Angeles,
(5000 feet) I gathred some twigs of
Nama -par+ (a half shrubby peren-
nial common on the mountain) in
which some kind of wasp had burrowed,
and which contained
cocoons that were
unfamiliar to me. The greater numbel
of the cells wet e empt~ , Init fi om those that remained there emerged six wasps
and four parasites winch Mr. Wm. H.
Ashineai.1 kindly examined nnd pro-
nounced to be new.
The cocoons are half an inch long by
one-eighth of an inch wide; in shape
and external appearance they closely
resemble a fitdj-grai~~ecl case of the
common caddis-fl! , being covered on
the outer surface with a layer of fine
sand, and having one end truncate
while the other is rounded. The cell-
divisions in one specimen, are composed
of the pith of the plant. In the other
the partitions consist of thin disics of sand. The wasp, presumably after
provisioning each cell, adds a quantity
of sand before scaling- it up and this is afterwards utilized by the larvae in the construction of its cocoon. There are,
in the Los Angeles district, at least two or three different kinds of wasps that
utilize hol1ow steins and fill them with grains of sand to protect the larvae, but the wasp in question is peculiar in that it not only uses sand in this nxliiner,
but in addition partitions ofl' one cell from another with it. The wasps
emerged from June 22 to July I, about
three weeks iifter being collected ; what the larvae 11:icl fed on conic1 not be
ascertained, since there were no parti-
cles of food in any of tlie burrows. The parasites hatched out in the first week
of Jiily from perfect cocoons of the
wasp, one from each, and obviously
must h;we attacked the pupae. Ap-
pcnded is Mr. Ashmcad's description of
both wasp and parasite.
Wnerus r~fobasilaris Ashin., sp. n,
9. Length, 7 rnin. Black, coarsely ru-
goso-pitnctute, the emargination of eyes, upper margin of clypeus, and angles of the inetathorax clothed with an appresised glitter- ingpubescence. CIypens. convexly elevated, with a slight median sinus anteriorly. Man- dibles and antennae entirely black, the fla- gellum incrassiited. Anterior angles of
proitotuin much dilated, acute. Basal sib- dominal segment, except the apical margin, red ; the anterior iniirgin of pronotuin (inter- rupted at the middle), two spots on scutelhim, the hind margin of the tegnlae, a spot
beneath, the apical margin of the first and second dorsal segments of abdomen and the apical margin of the second ventral segment



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creamy white; legs bliick, with the anterior knees, more or less of their tibiae, apical half of middle and hind femora beneath and their tibiae beneath, red. Wings subft~liginous, their veins black.
Epi.denia odyvieri Ashm. sp. n.
9. Length, 6 mm. Metallic green with
the sides of thorax, hind come and first abdominal segment bencath, blue or blue
green, the whole surface umbilicately punc- tate, clothed with a white pnbebcence. Fla- gellum beneath rufo-piceub; knees honey
yellow, the tibiae and tarsi dark fuscous, almost black, the hind tibiae behind fimbriate with long stiff briblles. Wings hyaline, the veins blackish, the marginal and post mar- ginal veins of an equal length and fully three times as lung as the short stigma1 vein. Abdomen conico-ovule one-third longer than the head and thorax. united, with lateral carinae.
Described from one specimen bred from
the cells of Odynenss rufo^asilaris described above.
NOTES ON THE WINTER INSECT FAUNA OF VIGO COUNTY, INDIANA.- IV.
BY W. S. BLATCIILEY, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. As the future articles of this series
will deal with the Coleoptera, and as
the sandy banks of the old Wabash and
Eric Canal furnished a most liberal
quota of the winter hiding places for
the Carabidae, as well as for the Cole-
optera in general, a few words of cle-
scription of these banks will not be out of place.
In the greater part of its course
through Vigo County. this canal was
constructed at high water mark, adjoin-
ingtlie river terraces on the eastern side of the Wabasl~ River; though in but
few places is it near the bed of the
from time to time accum~ilates, beneath
which scores of species of Coleoptera
find an agreeable su~nmer or winter
home.
To tlie late Dr. Frederick Stein* of
this city and to Mr. H. I?. Wickham of
Iowa City, Iowa, I owe many of the
identifications of the beetles named in
this and future articles. The arrange-
ment and nomenclature followed is that
of Hensliaw's List of the Coleoptera
of North America."
COLEOPTERA.
river, wide bottoms, cultivated in CARABIDAE. summer, intervening.
The tow path was on the river side
Among the winter insects occurring
of the canal and in many places (espe-
in Vigo County no family surpasses the
dally near some large ponds in the
Carabidae in. number of species, or it1
bottoms)
vast beds of sand have been
piled up against it by the annual fresh- *DL Ste"1 dkd iu April of last year.
He was an
enthusiastic stuilrnt of Coleoptera, and his collection of ets. On these beds of sand, drift-wood
that order was the largest in ~~di~,,..




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