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 Meloé, 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 Meloé. 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 larvae, of a yellowish-white colour, with the head and organs of 
nutrition corneous, and of a brownish hue. They resemble the earlier state 
of Meloé in the general contour of the head, and in the peculiar form of the 
antenne, 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 maxille and palpi are very like those of the young Meloé, while the 
labium presents the same deep emargination as in the earliest stage of that 
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 Meloé 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 Meloé 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 larva, 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 
= 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 Meloé, this will explain what has hitherto 
