312 Mr. Newport on the Natural History 
under surface ofthe thorax, or by the hairs of its body; mounting in crowds 
upon its thorax, and adhering thickly around the insertion of its legs, between 
the head and corselet, the thorax and abdomen, and on its under surface ; evi- 
dently exciting the greatest possible uneasiness to the fated insect, as indicated 
by its constant but fruitless endeavours to detach them from its body. Indeed, as 
DeGeer naively remarks*, “ On peut bien s'imaginer, qu'une mouche, chargée 
de tant d'ennemis, ne devoit pas étre à son aise; aussi fit-elle tout son possible 
pour s'en débarrasser, frottant sans cesse les pattes tantót contre le corps et 
tantót les unes contre les autres; mais tous ses efforts furent inutiles, aucune 
de ces larves ne voulant lacher prise.” But when the death of the victim 
occurred, these larvee, like all other parasites, immediately left it. 
The parasitic habit of Meloé, in its earliest stage, being thus established, 
we have now to ascertain what is its immediate object, Whether, is it to pro- 
cure food at once from the body of its victim ; or is it that the larva may be 
conveyed to a proper locality, in which it is to find means of support and 
development? I am greatly inclined to this latter view, which the details I | 
have presently to communicate respecting the full-grown larva and the pupa 
will not only show is most consistent with the known habits of the imago, 
but will also tend to reconcile the facts respecting the parasitism of the larva 
with the imperfect accounts that have been given by Frisch and Geoffroy. 
We have seen that the eggs of Meloé are deposited at the roots of grass in 
situations exposed to the sun; and that the larve are often found on the 
bodies of those hymenopterous insects which burrow into the earth, or per- 
forate hard banks of clay or sand to form nidi for their young ; and that they 
are also found on dipterous insects which frequent the nests of those very 
Hymenoptera as parasites. In this way the young Meloë may be carried, 
either by the parent bee, or by its parasitic enemy, into the nest where it is to 
be nourished, either with food prepared for, or on the bee-larva itself. This 
seems proved by the fact, that I have discovered the full-grown larva in the 
nest of Anthophora retusa. All the Hymenoptera on which the Meloés have 
bean found burrow in sandy or clayey soils; and I believe all the Diptera on 
which they have been taken are parasitic in the nests of the Hymenoptera. Of 
the former, there are the Andrenidæ, the Euceræ, the Osmiæ, Anthophore and 
* Mém. tome v. p. 11. 
