. Economic entomology for the THE INSECT WORLD. exercised great care in portioning out the food to the best ad- vantage. The adults may often be found on flowers, and when the golden-rod is in bloom in late summer, some of our largest and most attractive species, X^^^ Sphex ichneumo7iea, make their appearance in great abundance. The aUied " diggers" belonging to the Larridce have the abdomen more closely joined to the thorax, and provision their nests, which are made underground, with small grasshoppers. The insects are not nearly so common or so numerous in species as thos
. Economic entomology for the THE INSECT WORLD. exercised great care in portioning out the food to the best ad- vantage. The adults may often be found on flowers, and when the golden-rod is in bloom in late summer, some of our largest and most attractive species, X^^^ Sphex ichneumo7iea, make their appearance in great abundance. The aUied " diggers" belonging to the Larridce have the abdomen more closely joined to the thorax, and provision their nests, which are made underground, with small grasshoppers. The insects are not nearly so common or so numerous in species as those previously mentioned, and are chiefly inhabitants of the more southern States. In the BembecidcB we have many large, brightly colored spe- cies, some of which prey upon cicadas, stinging so as to render them helpless, and carrying them ofl" to their nests as provision for their young. It is interesting to watch a specimen of Sphe- cius speciosus when it has a large cicada to be transported. If the insect is captured and paralyzed upon a tree, the ^^^* wasp drags it along the branch to some convenient point, and from it flies as directly as possible towards its nest. Sometimes its strength is not sufficient to sustain the weight, and then it is drawn gradu- ally to the ground. In such case it again drags the insect to the top of some convenient shrub or tree, and makes another eflbrt, again flying as far as pos- sible before allowing itself to be pulled down, but always arranging matters so that it is able to make a new start from an eminence. In other words, the wasp is often unable to lift the cicada from the ground in direct flight, but is able to drag it to an elevation sufficiently great to fly a con- siderable distance before being drawn to the ground, and in this way, after a time, it manages to reach its nest. These Bembecids. Sphecius speciosus carrying a cicada to its Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishernp, bookyear1896
