316 Mr. Newport on the Natural History 



different sizes and ages, and having placed each in a separate glass tube, 

 included with them in each tube five or six of the larvee of Meloe. At first 

 the Meloes collected on the body of the bee-larva, and appeared as if inclined 

 to feed upon it ; but having left the tubes undisturbed for the night, I found 

 at the expiration of eighteen hours that the Meloes were removed from the 

 larva, and collected together as usual at the upper part of the tube. At the 

 expiration of forty-two hours they remained in the same state, so that the 

 only conclusion I was enabled to arrive at was, that the larvee of Meloe 

 violaceus and Meloe proscarabceus are not parasitic on the half- or full-grown 

 larva of Anthophora retusa. Yet from the circumstance of their always 

 attacking the larvae in these experiments, there seems reason to suspect that 

 they may prey on the very young of some species of bee, soon after it has left 

 the egg, although not in its advanced growth. It was unfortunate, that at 

 the time of making these observations I had not any young larvee of Meloe 

 cicatricosus, the species which I have constantly found in the full-grown larva 

 state, as well as in that of the nymph, and of the recently-developed perfect 

 insect, in the same bank with, and amongst the nests of Anthophora, and I 

 have not since had any opportunity of pursuing my researches with the young 

 of that species. I ought here to state, that although I have for several years 

 past obtained Meloe cicatricosus in all its stages from localities crowded with 

 the nests o^ Anthophora, I have never obtained either M. violaceus or M. pro- 

 scarabceus from the same spot, although the whole of these species are very 

 common in their perfect state in the meadows immediately adjoining the 

 bank in which I have found M. cicatricosus and the Anthophorce. The con- 

 clusion therefore which seems to be indicated is, that although the whole of 

 the species of Meloe reside as parasites in their larva state in the nests of 

 Hymenoptera, only M. cicatricosus is parasitic on Anthophora retusa. The 

 great length of time which the larvee of all the species can live without taking 

 food after they have left the egg, is indicative of a precarious mode of exist- 

 ence. Most of the specimens I have reared have lived from fifteen to twenty 

 days after coming from the egg, and during that period have not much in- 

 creased in size, but have died, apparently from want of proper nourishment. 



Although I have not traced the young larva of Meloe cicatricosus directly 

 into the nest of Anthophora, I will now endeavour to prove that that is the 

 locality in which it resides as a parasite, and where it undergoes its develop- 



