Economic entomology for the farmer Economic entomology for the farmer and fruit-grower economicentomolo01smit Year: 1906 THE INSECT WORLD. 401 usually have a velvety appearance, or look as if they were cov- ered with a whitish bloom, and the wings are also either black or yellow, like the prevailing colors of the body. They lay their eggs in spiders, which they bury, and in which the larvae de- velop. Perhaps this is a good place to mention the fact that these digger-wasps make use of their stings and the poison se- FiG. 455- Pepsis fonnosus, tarantula-hawk. creted by them for preserving f
Economic entomology for the farmer Economic entomology for the farmer and fruit-grower economicentomolo01smit Year: 1906 THE INSECT WORLD. 401 usually have a velvety appearance, or look as if they were cov- ered with a whitish bloom, and the wings are also either black or yellow, like the prevailing colors of the body. They lay their eggs in spiders, which they bury, and in which the larvae de- velop. Perhaps this is a good place to mention the fact that these digger-wasps make use of their stings and the poison se- FiG. 455- Pepsis fonnosus, tarantula-hawk. creted by them for preserving from decay and in a condition suitable as food for their young the larvae, spiders, and other insects upon which they feed. They sting their prey very care- fully, in such a way as to paralyze and render it motionless, while yet it does not die ; and the larvae, when they hatch, begin feeding very carefully, so as not to kill their host until they them- selves are sufficiently developed. The poison introduced seems to simply suspend life, or rather allows it to go on without a waste of tissue. Spiders of all kinds are attacked, and even the fierce tarantula of the South and Southwest has its enemy in an enormous species oiPepsis known as the 'tarantula-hawk.' Perhaps the most common forms belonging to this series are those in which the abdomen ends in a small bulb-like structure 26
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