McIlhenny (1937:232) has published a remarkable account of observations on the foraging behavior of a large adult male skink (stated to be _E. fasciatus_ but almost certainly _E. laticeps_) in southern Louisiana, which climbed among vines on the side of a house and attacked nests of wasps, _Polistes pallipes_ and _P. bellicosus_, shaking out the larvae, pausing to crush and swallow the few adults that lit on it and attempted, unsuccessfully, to sting. After many larvae had been shaken to the ground the skink descended and made a leisurely search, eating them in seemingly prodigious quantities. Several times it climbed back into the vines to shake out more larvae, and each time retrieved from the ground those it could find. After feeding to repletion it returned to its habitual shelter in a hollow live oak fifty feet from the house. In a two-week period, however, it returned frequently to raid the wasp nests in the vines, and eventually it had attacked all of the 32 nests that were originally present, completely destroying many of them. In the course of the present study direct observations on the food habits of skinks rarely could be made in the field. Most of those seen had been alarmed by the presence of the observer, and already had begun a dash for shelter. Others not sufficiently alarmed to take cover, were affected by an observer's presence, so that usually they ceased their normal activities and crouched attempting to conceal themselves or slithered nervously from one vantage point to another, on the alert for any sign of danger.