. The American entomologist. Entomology. their necks, with tlieir long sickle-shaped jaws. The females may generally be handled with the naked fingers with perfect impunity; for, like those of most of the "Wood Wasps {Grahro family), it is not one time in five hundred that they will use their stings, though they will gen- erally make ineffectual attempts to wound with their long slender sharp-pointed jaws. The spe- [Fis. 100.] cies sketched herewith, "^ ^ . .^ ^ the Painted-wing Digger Wasp, {AmmopMla pic- ' tipennis, n. sp. Fig. 100), is new to science, and a full description of it
. The American entomologist. Entomology. their necks, with tlieir long sickle-shaped jaws. The females may generally be handled with the naked fingers with perfect impunity; for, like those of most of the "Wood Wasps {Grahro family), it is not one time in five hundred that they will use their stings, though they will gen- erally make ineffectual attempts to wound with their long slender sharp-pointed jaws. The spe- [Fis. 100.] cies sketched herewith, "^ ^ . .^ ^ the Painted-wing Digger Wasp, {AmmopMla pic- ' tipennis, n. sp. Fig. 100), is new to science, and a full description of it will i^'^'k l\ y^'^ be found in the Appen- dix. It is tolerably com- mon in South Illinois, Colors-Black™ablood-rea;^"*^e ^'^""^ ^^^"^^^ '==»P- wings mst-redauddiisky, tured it in the more northerly parts of the State, and do not be- lieye that it is to be met with there. Some of our common species greatly exceed it in size and beaut}', many of them being elegant- ly marked in various patterns with patches of silvery white pubescence. All of them, however, have the same general shape and make, and no doubt have the same general habits. We figure this species here, though it is comparatively small and inconspicuously colored, because we have received the following very interesting ac- count of its habits from the mouth of Mr. T. A. E. Holcomb, of South Pass, in South Illinois. On June 10th, 1868, I saw tliis wasp carrying a good- sized cutworm alonjj the surfoce of the ground lor a distance of about six rods. She held the cutworm back downwards, so that the head and tail curled up- wards, grasping it with her jaws and front legs and walking with her four hind legs. I watched her for a long time, aud began to think she would never arrive at the end of her journey; but at last she commenced circling about with the worm till she found the hole, which had apparently been dug beforehand by her for the reception of her prey. As nearly as I could esti- mate It, s
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectentomology, bookyear1
