DEVELOPMENT OF THE SC'OLIA. 



42£ 



oval cocoon, in wliicli it passes to tlie pnpal and afterwards to 

 the perfect state. This cocoon is a long oval in shape, tolerably 

 alike at each end, but having at the upper end a sort of lid, 

 which is pushed open by the newly-developed insect when it 

 makes its way into the open air. Any of my readers who 

 would wish to see these curious objects, can do so by visiting 

 the Nest Eoom in the British Museum, where is a fine series of 

 cocoons brought from Florence, most of them being cut open so 

 as to show the method in wliich the inhabitant is packed up 

 within them. 



I believe that each species of Scolia chooses some particular 

 insect as the food for its young, or at all events that it selects 

 insects that are closely allied. The Scolia hicincta, for example, 

 places a single large locust at the bottom of its cell ; and some 

 entomologists think that several species of this group do not dig 

 l)urro\\s, but place their egus in the nest of some Solitary Bee. 



--- ^i^'ife 



Fitr. L'U;. — Scolia proecra. 

 (lilack and yellow.) 



Many of the Scoliidse are large insects, and the species which 

 is shown in the above illustration is one of the giants of the 



