THE SCOLIA. 217 



larvae of the MiiiillcB. The females have strong and spiny legs, 

 fitted for excavating, and they also have dentated mandibles, so 

 that the implements for forming cells are present, and therefore 

 they are sure to be employed. The females of the North Ame- 

 rican species have powerful stings and a very acrid venom. 



The Australian kinds are arranged under the genus Thynmis, 

 and one of them has a most extraordinary history. 



Verreaux states that the males have long bodies, and straight 

 antennae, but that the females, which are much smaller, have no 

 wings, and twisted antennae. The male flies about, and carries 

 the female with him, paying her the greatest attention, and placing 

 her on flowers, so that she can obtain her nourishment. 



Frequently other males, which have not the happiness of pos- 

 sessing a wingless companion, come near and appear enchanted 

 with her company. Of course they all become jealous, and a 

 fight ensues, and should her protector be unable to conquer the 

 others, in order to disappoint, them he eats her up. 



The species of the great genus Scolia have females with 

 strong and arched mandibles, and very spiny legs ; some of them 

 include insects of very large size, and the commonest is often 

 noticed in gardens in Central France, Italy, Spain, and North 

 Africa. A Florentine naturalist. Carlo Passerini, studied the 

 natural history of Scolia jlav if rons in 1840. If old rotten trunks 

 of oaks, or masses of tan, such as are used in gardens and 

 hot-houses, are examined, very large lai-vae of a beetle are often 

 found ; these larvae belong to the so-called Rhinoceros Beetle 

 {Oryctes nasicomis). They are usually very quiet, and live in 

 spaces which they have formed within the tan, and they are par- 

 ticularly subject to the attacks of the females of this Scolia. 



The Scolia is searching for food for its future larva, and it 

 finds out that the beetle larva is within reach, so it digs down 

 to it, and stings it, so as to produce the curious stupid condition 

 already noticed as invariably following such an attack. As soon 

 as this is done a small egg is laid on the skin of the torpid 

 creature, and is glued to it by a special secretion. A young 

 larva is born from the egg at the end of a few days, and 

 immediately commences to gnaw the skin of its victim with its 

 mandibles ; it gradually forces its head into the wound, and 



