1914.] 269 



narrow glass tube in which the larva could be seen ; she was seen to slip below 

 without any trouble and to sting the thoracic segments; the hole was not 

 properly filled up, probably owing to the artificial conditions. On the 24th, we 

 tried her with a large active larva, but she seemed weak, and although this did 

 not prevent her exploring the burrow, her remains were found at the bottom 

 of it a day or two later ! 



2. A large $ caught on Aug. 19th. On being put in a glass vessel contain- 

 ing two tenanted burrows, she only required a couple of minutes to find one of 

 them, whose occupant was near the top. The Methoca at once " froze," and five 

 minutes later made a rush and slipped in below it ; both disappeared down the 

 hole, and after about an hour the Methoca emerged and set to work filling the 

 burrow. The night was spent in an empty hole. On the 23rd, with a new 

 burrow, occurred the episode mentioned where the Methoca, was thrown off, but 

 within half-a-hour, she had accounted for the larva, although she was too weak 

 to fill the hole, and died the next day. 



3. This <j> was found on the evening of Aug. 19th, in a burrow with an 

 obviously indisposed Cicindela larva, as we were getting some larvae to experi- 

 ment with. On the 20th, she appeared to fall down a Cicindela-burrow, and a 

 fight ensiled during which she inflicted several ineffective stings ; the two had 

 another fight in the evening, but again without residt. On the 21st, she had 

 disposed of a fresh larva by 10.30 a.m., and by 4.30 of a second, and after that 

 of a third, though the filling of the hole was only completed the next morning, 

 when she was lost. 



4. This, a fairly large specimen, was put in a jar with three Cicindela 

 larvae, two small and one full-grown, in their burrows ; she chose (as in all 

 other similar cases) the big one, and disabled her victim as usual, but the 

 burrow got blocked below the completely paralyzed larva near the top, and 

 after two hours fruitless toil, she only succeeded in getting it half-an-inch 

 down ; this did not satisfy her, and she deserted the woi'k. The Methoca 

 died on the 24th. 



5. On August 24th the Methoca went down a burrow at the side of a tumbler 

 half full of sand, in spite of the fact that it was blocked by a partly consumed 

 Balaninus larva. The Cicindela larva was disposed of as usual but the hole not 

 filled. On the next day another larva (No. 1) was parasitised at 11 a.m. and 

 the work of filling up the hole took till 2.45 p.m. A third oviposition was 

 effected between 3 and 5 p.m. On the 29th yet two more (Nos. 2 and 3) victims 

 were made, both in burrows such that operations could be observed through 

 the glass walls. 



Further observations were able to be made in the cases of Nos. 1, 2 and 3 

 indicated ahove. On September 2nd, i.e., only four days after oviposition, the 

 young parasitic larva was visible— it lives entirely externally — attached to the 

 ventral surface of one of the thoracic segments of its host-larva. Apparently 

 the juices are sucked out of the host which slowly shrivels up as the parasite 

 grows ; the former seems to remain alive almost to the end. The Methoca 

 larva is of a peculiar glistening, transparent white colour, tapering off at both 



