318 Mr. Newport on the Natural History 



repeatedly obtained the adult larva, I discovered three specimens of the larva 

 of a coleopterous insect in a cell that contained also the living nymph of Antho- 

 phora retusa. These specimens differ so much in their general appearance 

 from the adult form of the larva of Meloe, that I have doubted whether they 

 are not the young of some other insect. On close inspection however they 

 present certain marked peculiarities which seem to identify them with the 

 other stages of Meloe. These specimens are still living, and I have now the 

 pleasure of exhibiting one of them to the Society. They are short, fat, but 

 rather active larvse, of a yellowish-white colour, with the head and organs of 

 nutrition corneous, and of a brownish hue. They resemble the earlier state 

 of Meloe in the general contour of the head, and in the peculiar form of the 

 antennae, the middle joint of which is enlarged and club-shaped, while the 

 two terminal joints are very slender, and end in an acute point. The parts 

 of the mouth also present great similitudes. The mandibles are acute, but 

 are much shortened, and more resemble those of a vegetable-feeding insect. 

 The maxillae and palpi are very like those of the young Meloe, while the 

 labium presents the same deep emargination as in the earliest stage of tha,t 

 insect. The caudal appendages also exist, but are shortened, and are evi- 

 dently about to disappear. On the other hand, the whole general form of the 

 larva is different, and more resembles that which the Meloe assumes when 

 full-grown. The thorax is rounded in front and dilated at its sides, and there 

 is no division of the body into trunk and abdomen, the whole of the segments 

 having assumed one general appearance, those of the posterior part of the 

 body being most enlarged. The legs are considerably shortened, and have 

 not the tarsal spines, the two lateral portions of the claw. 



As I have not yet reared the adult larva of Meloe from this state, I will not 

 describe it positively as the young of that insect, although I suspect that such 

 is the fact. I am quite satisfied that these larvae, although found in a cell 

 with the nymph of Anthophora, are not parasitic on the insect itself. In 

 the short time I have yet had to notice their habits, I have convinced myself 

 that they do not attack the bee-nymph, but only conceal themselves beneath 

 it. They seem now to feed on the debris that the larva had passed from its 

 body before changing to a nymph. I have no doubt that their proper food is 

 the pollen-paste stored up for the bee-larva. If these specimens should ulti- 

 mately prove to be the young of Meloe, this will explain what has hitherto 



