314 Mr. Newport on the Natural History 



seems so completely to influence their movements, I have frequently inverted 

 the phial that contained them, so that they were then at the bottom. In- 

 stantly the whole were in motion, travelling in haste perpendicularly up the 

 sides of the phial to that part which was then the top, and most exposed to 

 light. I have then placed the phial in a horizontal position, with that end of 

 it in which the larvae were collected furthest removed from the light, and 

 again the whole were travelling rapidly towards it at the opposite end of the 

 phial. In this way they can at any time be aroused to a state of great activity, 

 especially if the light to which they are exposed is intense, whether it be 

 artificial or bright sunlight. That it is light which acts thus powerfully 

 upon them seems to be proved by the circumstance that, if the stopper be 

 removed from the mouth of the phial when they are collected around it, and 

 the phial be then placed in a horizontal position with its closed end to the 

 light, the larvae do not attempt to escape through the opened mouth, although 

 nearest to it, but instantly travel in the opposite direction towards the light. 

 Thus the unerring influence of a great physical cause, that arouses the instinct 

 of the newly-developed being, seems to be clearly indicated in the efflects of 

 light upon these Meloes. These effects I may perhaps be allowed to designate, 

 — the polarization of Instinct. 



The influence which light produces on the instinct of the young Meloes 

 accords with their presumed ascent on the bright-coloured flowers of the 

 dandelion and buttercup, preparatory to their attaching themselves to the 

 Hymenoptera that visit these flowers to collect pollen. Every circumstance 

 we are acquainted with respecting the Meloes seems to confirm us in this 

 view of their habits. Their extremely diminutive form, their lightness and 

 activity of body, the celerity with which they attach themselves, and the per- 

 tinacity with which they adhere to the objects within their reach, and their 

 extreme susceptibility of external influences, — all coincide to prove their 

 parasitic nature. They seem indeed in every respect most fitted and de- 

 signed, by the Great Author of their being, to attach themselves securely to 

 their victims, and be wafted about from flower to flower on the bodies of 

 other insects, in the full joyousness of open daylight, while being conveyed to 

 the proper locality for their development. This, doubtless, is the instinct 

 that urges them to attach themselves to the Hymenoptera, to be carried to 



