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detached victim. The whole body is cleaned out in a few hours, 

 only the shrivelled skin, with the Eeet and the hard brown integument 

 of the head, remaining. The increase in size during this final stage 

 of feeding is remarkable, the linear proportions being more than 

 doubled. 



The larva proceeds to spin up in situ, the long neck facilitating the 

 attachment of the thread to different points in the wall of the cavity 

 previously occupied by the host. A very loose fluffy outer covering is 

 first formed, and within this a firm-walled, extremely tough, elongate- 

 ovate inner envelope. The whole cocoon is whitish at first, but darkens 

 to a tawny brown. 



The process of spinning, so far as it can be externally watched, 

 occupies about 24 hours. 



The time spent in the cocoon, as observed in the insectary, is usually 

 from 32-40 days. Only in three instances in the writer's experience 

 has this been exceeded, in which cases periods of 45, 47, and 56 days 

 were reached. Excluding these, the average of 22 carefully recorded 

 examples was 35 days. 



The wasp emerges by biting an irregular hole through the cocoon 

 near one end, generally the larger one. It may be heard rasping away 

 the envelope at that point with its mandibles an hour or so before its 

 head appears. 



Both sexes take food, if it is available, immediately after emergence. 

 In captivity cane syrup, sugar and water, and honey are readily 

 accepted. 



Copulation has been observed both in the field and in captivity. 

 If, however, a virgin female is confined over soil containing Phy talus 

 grubs she will proceed to lay fertile eggs. The experiments which have 

 established this were carried out with females reared separately in 

 small Petri dishes. Phytalus grubs, examined under a dissecting 

 microscope to make sure that they were free from eggs, were buried in 

 soil mixed with a few fibrous roots in large flower-pots, made with a 

 bulging rim to fit closely round the base of large lantern glasses. The 

 top of each glass was covered with tissue paper held tight by a card- 

 board ring. A hole was punched through the paper with a pencil, 

 the female (slightly chloroformed) introduced, and the hole closed with 

 gummed paper. Difficulty in obtaining grubs limited the experiment, 

 but some fifteen eggs were obtained from five females. All hatched and 

 produced normal larvae. Owing to external circumstances only three 

 adults were secured from these eggs, all males. 



4—2 



