352 Mr. Newport on the Natural History 
But a close examination of the structure of the mandibles of the young 
Meloé, and its habit of appearing to seize with them, and to thrust ther into 
the soft parts of the tegument of the bee which it clings to, as at the junction 
their full growth before the bee-larva changed to a nymph. The general appearance of the head, 
antenne and eyes in these larvæ, and the existence of what might readily be regarded as atrophied 
caudal styles, all conspired to lead to this view ; while the form of their mandibles, and the circumstance 
of the larvze being included in a cell in which a bee-larva had recently become a nymph, and, above 
all, that of their actually feeding on the rejectamenta voided by the young bee at its change, then led 
me further to think that the Meloé is parasitic on the food of the young bee, and not on the bee itself. 
But as at that time the specimens were still living, and had not undergone any change since they were 
taken in the preceding October, I did not describe them as actually the young of Meloé. 
As I have now traced these larve to their imago state, it may be well to append a short notice of the 
species to my paper on Meloé, as of an insect which is occasionally found in the cell of Anthophora, 
the usual habitation of the larva of Melo? cicatricosus. 
The larve (Tas. XIV. fig. 34, u) were nearly all of the same size, and each measured about one-third 
of an inch in length. They were fat, white, and very active, with the body formed of thirteen seg- 
, ments, besides the anal one, which was employed in locomotion as a pro-leg. Each segment was 
armed with a few elongated tufts of hairs. In the general form of the head and antenne the larva 
resembled the early stage of Meloé. The antennz were four-jointed, with the second joint the longest 
and somewhat clavate, and the third and fourth delicate and setaceous. The head was somewhat 
quadrate (fig. 35), wider than long, with a short transverse lip, and a small projecting ocellus at each 
of its anterior angles. The mandibles were short, thick, and a little acute at the apex, and resembled 
those of a vegetable-feeding larva; while the palpi were filiform and slightly elongated, and the 
labium was narrow and deeply emarginated. The prothorax was broad, rounded in front and dilated 
at its sides; and the meso- and metathoracic segments were soft, and did not present any difference 
in appearance from those of the abdomen. The legs were short, strong, scaly, and terminated in a 
single acute claw; and the preanal segment was armed with a pair of short horny styles. : 
I kept these larvee in a small glass vessel, partially filled with dry clay, in the midst of which I placed 
them, in the cell of Anthophora, with the bee-nymph, which they did not attempt to injure, but 
usually concealed themselves beneath it, amidst the rejectamenta, on which, as I have stated, they fed. 
` They very much resembled the larva of Opilus mollis, figured and described by my friend Mr. Water- — 
house'; but on showing them to that gentleman, I found they were quite unknown to him, They 
seemed D prefer a very dry locality, as on moistening the soil with a few drops of water they were 
greatly inconvenienced. In the beginning of January 1846 each specimen had quitted the cell, and 
csi for itself a little burrow in the clay, and on the 28th and 29th of January they changed to 
nymphs, 
UN (fig. ^i biosaly resembled in appearance that of Diaperis Boleti. The first and second 
eus — waed at right angles with the body, and the third pair diagonally, the extremity 
Jomt projecting externally to the elytra. The anal and przanal segments were each 
* Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. vol. i. pl. 6. fig. 1. 
