31? Mr. Newport on the Natural History 



under surface of the thorax, or by the hairs of its body ; mounting in crowds 

 upon its thorax, and adhering thickly around the insertion of its legs, between 

 the head and corselet, the thorax and abdomen, and on its under surface ; evi- 

 dently exciting the greatest possible uneasiness to the fated insect, as indicated 

 by its constant but fruitless endeavours to detach them from its body. Indeed, as 

 DeGeer naively remarks*, " On pent bien s'imaginer, qu'une mouche, chargee 

 de tant d'ennemis, ne devoit pas etre a son aise ; aussi fit-elle tout son possible 

 pour s'en d^barrasser, frottant sans cesse les pattes tantot centre le corps et 

 tantot les unes contre les autres ; niais tons ses efforts furent inutiles, aucune 

 de ces larves ne voulant lacher prise." But when the death of the victim 

 occurred, these larvae, like all other parasites, immediately left it. 



The parasitic habit of Meloe, in its earliest stage, being thus established, 

 we have now to ascertain what is its immediate object. Whether, is it to pro- 

 cure food at once from the body of its victim ; or is it that the larva may be 

 conveyed to a proper locality, in which it is to find means of support and 

 development ? I am greatly inclined to this latter view, which the details I 

 have presently to communicate respecting the full-grown larva and the pupa 

 will not only show is most consistent with the known habits of the imago, 

 but will also tend to reconcile the facts respecting the parasitism of the larva 

 with the imperfect accounts that have been given by Frisch and GeofFroy. 



We have seen that the eggs of Meloe are deposited at the roots of grass in 

 situations exposed to the sun ; and that the larvse are often found on the 

 bodies of those hymenopterous insects which burrow into the earth, or per- 

 forate hard banks of clay or sand to form nidi for their young ; and that they 

 are also found on dipterous insects which frequent the nests of those very 

 Hymenoptera as parasites. In this way the young Meloe may be carried, 

 either by the parent bee, or by its parasitic enemy, into the nest where it is to 

 be nourished, either with food prepared for, or on the bee-larva itself This 

 seems proved by the fact, that I have discovered the full-grown larva in the 

 nest of Anthophora retusa. All the Hymenoptera on which the MeJoes have 

 been found burrow in sandy or clayey soils ; and I believe all the Diptera on 

 which they have been taken are parasitic in the nests of the Hymenoptera. Of 

 the former, there are the Andrenidoe, the Eucerce, the Osmice, Anthophorce and 



* Mdm. tome v. p. 11. 



