84 Miscellaneous. 



Aphroceras alcicornis. 



Hab. Hong-Kong (Dr. Harland). 



This species somewhat resembles Grantia botryoides in appear- 

 ance and habit; bat in that species the spicula are all triradiate, 

 which appears to be the generic character of the genus Grantia as 

 I propose to restrict it. — Proc. Zool. Soc. Feb. 23, 1858. 



On the Hypermetamorphosis and Habits o/Sitaris. By M. Fabre. 



M. Fabre has been engaged in the investigation of the habits and 

 metamorphosis of Sitaris, a genus of Coleopterous insects nearly 

 allied to Meloe ; the latter, as is well known, was the subject of some 

 of the admirable investigations of the late George Newport. Singu- 

 larly enough, M. Fabre was quite ignorant of the memoir of the great 

 English physiologist, up to the time of his reading his own paper 

 before the Academy of Sciences. The principal facts in the latter 

 are summed up by the author in the following words : — 



"The species of .Sitaris and Meloe, and apparently other Melo'ides, 

 if not all, are, in their early stages, parasitic on Anthophilous Hy- 

 menoptera. 



M The larva of the Melo'ides, before arriving at the pupa state, 

 passes through four forms, which the author denominates primitive 

 larva, second larva, pseudo-chrysalis, and third larva. The passage 

 from one of these forms to the other is effected by a simple change 

 of skin, without any alteration in the viscera. 



" The primitive larva is coriaceous, and takes up its abode on the 

 bodies of Hymenopterous insects. Its object is to get transported 

 into a cell full of honey. When it reaches the cell, it devours the 

 egg of the Bee, and its part is performed. This is the active hexapod 

 larva, described by Newport and other observers as the first product 

 of the egg in Meloe. 



" The second larva is soft, and differs entirely from the primitive 

 larva in its external characters. It feeds upon the honey contained 

 in the usurped cell. 



" The pseudo-chrysalis is a body destitute of all movement, and 

 clothed with corneous integuments comparable to those of pupae. 

 On these integuments there are the design of a cephalic mask, with- 

 out moveable and distinct parts, six tubercles indicating the feet, and 

 nine pairs of stigmatic orifices. In Sitaris the pseudo-chrysalis is 

 enclosed in a sort of sac formed by the skin of the second larva. In 

 Meloe it is simply half invaginated in the cleft skin of the second larva. 



" The third larva exhibits nearly the same characters as the second. 

 In Sitaris it is enclosed in a double vesicular envelope formed by the 

 skin of the second larva and that of the pseudo-chrysalis. In Meloe 

 it is half-enclosed in the cleft skin of the pseudo-chrysalis, which, in 

 its turn, is inserted in the same way into that of the second larva. 



" After this, the metamorphosis follows the usual course ; the third 

 larva becomes a pupa, and the latter a perfect insect." — Comptes 

 Rendus, March 1, 1858, p. 443. 



