Wasp and Spider.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20329, 12 June 1934, Page 6

Wasp and Spider.

Nature Notes

By ,

James Drummond,

F.L.S.. F.Z.S.

A BRILLIANT WASP with crimson body and legs and champagne coloured wings was seen flying near lettuce plants in a Christchurch garden. It became entangled in a spider’s webh, and immediately was drawn into a fight with the own n r <fff the web. The spider pounced on the Wc-sp. but soon dropoed to the ground, helpless. Becoming free of the web, the wasp went down to the spider and dragged it towards a flower-pot, beneath which, probablf, it had its nest and eggs Wasps are almost as clever as ants. In finding their way, they are quicker and surer than bees. Their mouth-parts are adapted to sucking, but they cannot sip nectar frem flowers that have deep nectaries. and they usually visit flowers that are shallow and are opened wide. In the summer they live mainly on the juices of fruit and the nectar of flowers, but they are also carnivorous

Crimson wasps are common summer visitors to Christchurch gardens. They are Salius wakefieldi, the most conspicuous species on a fairly long list of native wasp*. New Ze?land has only one introduced species, Polistes, an Australian, which makes peculiar papery nests composed of many cells. It is a nuisance in North Auckland orchards. The South Island climate seems to be uncongenial to it.