Note 136 — SUPPLEMENT TO TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS.

This insect was probably not a true wasp, though belonging to an allied family; it may perhaps have been a Pepsis, certain species of which genus Mr. Bates informs me he has frequently seen near Santarem on the Amazon, hawking over the ground where the huge trap-door spiders lived, and suddenly pouncing down upon one of these creatures, often many times larger than themselves, when, after paralysing their victim with their sting, they would deliberately saw off the legs before dragging away the bodies!