In the literature of the Hymenoptera references have been made from time to time to certain wasps that cut off the legs of spiders or other creatures before storing them away; but observations on the subject have been rare and not very definite. Brehm, in the “Thierleben,” says that Agenia punctata builds nests of mud, and places in each cell one moderately large spider from which she has first removed all the legs. The most interesting notes on the subject have been made by M. Goureau, who gives an account of finding two spiders that had been mutilated by wasps, one of them having had all of the legs cut off, and the other all but the first pair. At another time a wasp that was flying near him let fall a spider, which he captured before it could be recovered by the owner. The wasp escaped, so that he could not determine the species, but the spider’s legs had been removed. He concluded that instead of stinging the spiders the wasps had mutilated them so that they could not run away. He does not seem to realize that death would certainly result from such an operation. [Illustration: NEST OF AGENIA BOMBYCINA] Vespa germanica often cuts off the wings of a dead wasp, or even cuts its body into two parts, before flying away with it, but this is only when the captured insect is too large to be handled in any other way; and Pompilus fuscipennis sometimes cuts off one or more legs from her spider, although without any regular method of procedure. Agenia bombycina finds a nesting–place to her liking on our smoke–house, in the crevice between the bricks and the wooden door–frame, where she makes clusters of little mud cells, putting one mutilated spider into each, and storing about one a day. Her locality sense is unusually poor, owing apparently to her intense nervousness and excitability, but some individuals are better endowed than others in this respect. [Illustration: LYCOSA KOCHII, FOUND IN NEST OF AGENIA BOMBYCINA]