318 Lhinean Society. [Jan. 19, 



present object is to compare the habits and anatomy of Melo'e in its 

 . larva state with those of the larvae of allied genera, and with the jja- 

 rasitic groups of insects the Sh-epsiptera and Anoplura, with a view 

 to show that habit and instinct in animals are always closely asso- 

 ciated with the functions of particular organs, and seem to be the 

 immediate result of structural peculiarities of organization. 



Having in his former memoir described the habits of Melo'e, and 

 traced the young from the egg to the imago state, he now entered 

 on an examination of the habits of the entire group of insects allied 

 to Melo'e, and showed that the whole of them in their larva state bear 

 a general resemblance to the larva Melo'e, not only in their organi- 

 zation but also in their habits ; and that the more closely the larvse of 

 different genera approach in structure, the more nearly also are they 

 allied in instinct and oeconomy. This accordance between structure 

 and instinct he regards as universal throughout nature, and as par- 

 ticularly marked in the Articulata. The author believes that, by 

 carefully comparing our observations on the natural history of ani- 

 mals with their peculiarities of structure, and these on the other 

 hand with their instincts, what might otherwise remain useless and 

 isolated facts may be rendered truly important to science, " as data 

 on which a correct knowledge of the laws of creation and life may 

 be established." In this way, he states, " natural history may be 

 made to occupy its proper position as an important branch of useful 

 knowledge, and mainly help to demonstrate the connexion which 

 subsists between structure and function, and function and the habits 

 of animals." 



In pursuing this view, he shows that the organization and instinct 

 of the larva Melo'e closely agree. At the moment of birth, when the 

 larva is destined to attach itself parasitically to the Hymenoptera which 

 alight on flowers to collect pollen, and which are to convey it to their 

 nests, its organs of vision are largely developed, and those of loco- 

 motion are elongated, powerful, and constructed like those of the pa- 

 rasitic Anoplura ; and it is extremely active and sensitive of light. 

 But when, at the period of full growth, it is found in the cell of 

 Anthophora, it is a fattened, yellow-coloured, almost motionless larva, 

 with its legs atrophied and reduced to mere pedal tubercles previous 

 to a further change in their structure when the larva passes to the 

 state of nymph. 



In the course of these observations Mr. Newport proved, by actual 

 comparison, the identity of many yellow-coloured larvae which had 

 been taken by Mr, Smith on some of the Nomadce (themselves 

 parasitic insects) with the larvae of Melo'e, which he had himself 



