On Mon, 19 Aug 1996, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> Eureka! In *An Introduction to the Study of Insects* (Borror, De Long, and
> Triplehorn, 1981), here's "horse guard" in the index. It's a wasp of the
> family Sphecidae (sphecid wasps, including many familiar species but not
> our yellowjackets and hornets), subfamily Bembicini (sand wasps), _Stictia
> carolina_, about 25 mm long, black with yellow markings. "It often hunts
> for flies (mostly Tabanidae [horse flies]) near horses . . ."


Many years ago on a rafting trip down the Selway (?) River in Idaho we
were plagued by deer flies and horse flies, and by these
terrifying-looking wasps that dive-bombed us. After a short while we
realized that the wasps were hunting the flies and would very neatly lift
the flies off our arms before they could manage to bite us. The wasps
themselves were very accurate and hardly even brushed against us. It has
been too long for me to remember what the wasps looked like, but they
sound exactly like the horse guards. Since there were no horses in our
rafts (but there may have been some in the vicinity), I am wondering what
the distribution of horse guards is and whether they have relatives who
live in more wild habitats. My foggy memory remembers this raft trip as a
wilderness experience, but there may well have been ranches in the area
that contributed to the healthy populations of flies and wasps. The whole
experience enhanced my appreciation of wasps considerably!

Paul Talbert
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Reseach Center
Seattle, WA

paul at sparky.fhcrc.org