_Crabro cribrarius_ is the largest British species. Its food consists principally of gnats and other dipterous insects. This insect and many others burrow in the ground, generally in hard sandbanks. Another species (_Crabro brevis_) frequents similar situations, and has been known to provision its nest with small beetles. [Illustration: Fig. 21.--Chlorion Viridiæneum.] _Family 8, Nyssonidæ._--This family is not a numerous one comparatively. _Mellinus arvensis_ is a black insect, about half an inch in length, with stripes on the abdomen and yellow legs. It provisions its nest with flies, and not being able to capture them by swiftness, runs past them when they are resting in an unconcerned manner till they are thrown off their guard, when they are pounced upon and carried off to the nest. _Family 9, Larridæ._--This family very much resembles the last. The species are mostly small insects, few of them measuring half an inch in length. They are usually black, sometimes with the abdomen red at the base. _Family 10, Sphegidæ._--Most of the insects included in this family feed upon grasshoppers, and the manner in which they procure their prey is very curious. In attacking their bulky prey they use every endeavour to turn the grasshopper on its back. When they succeed in this they inflict stings in different parts of the underside of the abdomen and thorax, which soon paralyse the victim, which is then dragged to the nest of the ruthless destroyer. _Sphex flavipennis_ is a common species in the south of Europe. _Family 11, Pompilidæ._--Most of the species of _Pompilus_ burrow in sand or sandy soil, and store their nests with spiders and the _larvæ_ of insects. One of our commonest species, _Pompilus fuscus_, is usually about half an inch long, and is black, with the first three segments of the abdomen red banded with black. This insect makes its appearance in the spring, and may be observed in sandy places throughout the summer. Another common British species is _Pompilus punctum_, which is black in colour. _Family 12, Bombicidæ._--This small family is not represented in Britain, though found in southern Europe. Many of the insects burrow in the sand, scratching a hole with their forefeet like a dog, as observed by Sir S. Saunders in the Ionian Islands. In the daytime they may be seen flying rapidly from flower to flower, and many of them exhale an odour of roses. [Illustration: Fig. 22.--Sapyya Clavicornis.] _Family 13, Sapygidæ._--This is a small family containing only a single genus, with very few species.