PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 84(2), 1982, pp. 225-231 FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE ETHOLOGY OF ALYSSON CONICUS PROVANCHER (HYMENOPTERA: SPHECIDAE) Mark F. O'Brien and Frank E. Kurczewski (MFC) Insect Division, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109; (FEK) Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, S.U.N.Y. College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syra-cuse, New York 13210. Abstract. — Females of Alysson conicus Provancher were observed nest-ing in large aggregations in a sandy road and path in the Adirondacks. They were active at ambient temperatures of from 15° to 22°C. Females stored adult Cicadellidae (94% Empoa albicans Walsh) in their nests. From 5 to 12 leafhoppers were placed in the fully provisioned, spherical cells, 1.4 to 6.0 cm beneath the surface. Prey were transported to the nests in flight and held by the beak and body with the wasp's mandibles and legs, respectively. Entrances were left open while provisioning. Prey (61%) were parasitized by dryinid wasps in 1980 prior to capture by A. conicus. Little is known about the bionomics of the genus Alysson in North Amer-ica. Of the nine species in the Nearctic Region, only A. nielleus Say has been studied to any extent (Hartman, 1905; Rau and Rau, 1918; Evans, 1966; Kurczewski and Kurczewski, 1971). Alysson conicus Provancher is one of the less commonly collected species. It ranges throughout the northeastern U.S. from southeastern Can-ada into Virginia (Krombein, 1979). The only known information on its nesting behavior has been published by O'Brien and Kurczewski (1979). The present report adds considerably more data and complements the be-havioral information presented in 1979. Ecology We observed A. conicus during August 6-10, 1979 and July 20-25, 1980 at the Cranberry Lake Biological Station of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in St. Lawrence Co., N.Y. The wasps occupied a 52 m segment of a sandy road which parallels Sucker Brook (Fig. 1), and a compacted, sandy-clayey path 2 m from the lake shoreline on the opposite side of the Station. Dominant vegetation along these areas comprised sec-
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