ENEMIES OF APITIDES, 371 



side in clusters of a dozen or more upon leaves and other objects, 

 and are so much subject to the attacks of a minute Hymcnopter- 

 ous parasite, that those who undertake to hatch such as are found 

 outdoors, will more often get flies than bugs. The newly-hatched 

 bug is ovoid and shiny black, with some bright crimson about the 

 abdomen. In the full-grown larva the black still predominates on 

 the thorax, but some four yellowish spots appear, and the abdomen 

 becomes more yellowish, though still tinted with red. In the 

 pupa, which is readily distinguished by the little wing-pads, the 

 ochreous-yellow extends still more, and finally, with the last moult, 

 the black disappears entirely in the perfect insect. Throughout 

 the miniature stages the shoulders are rounded, not pointed, and 

 the antennae have but four joints instead of five, as in the mature 

 bug, while there are but two visible joints to the feet, or tarsi, 

 instead of three. . . . The Spined Soldier-Bug by no means 

 confines himself to the Potato-Beetle larvae, but attacks a great 

 number of other insects." 



It appears to me probable that another species which Professor 

 Riley has described as the ' Bordered Soldier-Bug,' also very des- 

 tructive to the larvae of the Colorado beetle, is probably identical 

 with the species of Fodistis, which has been already described in 

 these pages. 



Part V. Plate XVII. 



Travelling beyond the borders of the class Insecta, we find 

 some occasional destroyers of Aphides among the voracious divi- 

 sion of the Arachnida or Spiders, the distinguishing mark of 

 which is the absence of the definite division into three sections : 

 head, thorax, and abdomen, which characterises the former class. 



The voracious and carnivorous habits of the group are well 

 known, some species not only devouring other insects, but also 

 those of their own kind, and Col. L. Blathwayt states that in some 

 varieties the females promptly thus dispose of the more diminutive 

 males when their services are no longer required for the propaga- 

 tion of the species. This (to us) unnatural instinct accords well 

 with the popular belief in the ferocity of these creatures, and the 

 danger consequent on the attack and bite of certain of the larger 



