152 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



common among butterflies and moths that I know not a single 

 species that escapes it altogether. Papilio Macliaon perhaps 

 offers the nearest approach to iminnnity, for I have never 

 bred more than two parasites from this noble butterfly. The 

 Hymenoptera themselves are subject to the attacks of 

 numerous parasites. There is one group whose parasites are 

 of another class: these are the Padotropha, or those which 

 live in vast cou)nujnities. These are preyed upon exclusively, 

 as I believe, by Coleoptera, the genus R/iipiphorus and 

 Zeiins attacking the Vespidce ; Horia, Sitaris, Meloe, Sfylops, 

 Eleucus, Hi/leclhrus, and Halictopfiagiis, being parasitic 

 on solitary species. These I have elsewhere described 

 as having a metamorphotic larva: the first stage very slender, 

 hexapod, and active ; the second, obese, apod, and stationary. 

 Most of the phytophagous Hymenoptera are subject to this 

 plague: the common leathery cocoon of Tenthredo cralagi, 

 often seen in abundance in our whitethorn hedges, is 

 frequently stuffed to bursting with the larvae of a Biophagan. 

 In Coleoptera the instances of the parasitism of these 

 Biophagans are by no means so numerous. Thnarcha 

 tenebricosa is subject to this plague, but never to any great 

 extent. Coccinella 1-punctata has a similar enemy, and 

 numerous RhynchopJiora suffer from their attacks : the genera 

 Barynotus, Otiorhynchus, and above all the quaint Apions, 

 particularly A. apricans, the insect which I described else- 

 where as so destructive to clover-seed. If you sweep the 

 clover with a bag-net the proceeds will contain the Apion 

 and a small Pterouuilus in about equal numbers : and as for 

 Otiorhynclius Httlaitus, that inveterate enemy of green-house 

 ferns ; O. notatus, which infests the larch; and O. scabrosus, 

 that plague of the rose grower — they are all subject to 

 Biophagan assaults. So also are the various species of 

 Piiiridce ; and these life-destroying creatures not only 

 traverse our jjosts and rails, and fences and timber, out of 

 doors, but enter our houses with the charitable intention of 

 finding and destroying these boring creatures, while thinking 

 themselves sale in their cylindrical galleries. The larvae of 

 Mordelloi a)id Ordiesioi — Orchesia micans — fall a f)rey to 

 these parasites. On the Orthoptera the IJiophagans make but 

 little impression. The locusts which have devastated the 

 Western States of America are infested by a Biophagan, 

 but in such stiiall numbers that it fails to make any 

 impression on the multitudinous hosts of these destroyers. 

 In Neuroptera a singular instance is given by Mr. Kirby 



