upon lepidopterous larva, dec. 307 



imagos emerged. I endeavoured to keep the latter 

 insects alive in glass cylinders, until the Dicranura 

 larvse were advanced in size, but they only lived for 

 about a week. The mature larvae of Taniocampa gothica 

 were offered to them, and on one occasion I witnessed an 

 attack made upon one of these by a virgin female 

 Paniscus. The struggling larva was firmly held by the 

 hooked feet of the hymenopteron, while the mandibles 

 of the latter were deeply embedded in its body, so that 

 it bled freely ; at the same time the sheaths of the hori- 

 zontal ovipositor were held erect, as if the organ were 

 about to be used. At this critical point I was obliged to 

 leave in order to catch a train, but I afterwards found 

 that no eggs had been affixed to the larva, which had 

 died in consequence of the injuries inflicted upon it. I 

 certainly gained the impression that the Paniscus was 

 partially eating the larva, for so severe a bite would of 

 course have entirely prevented the latter from acting as 

 food for the offspring of the Paniscus. Furthermore, I 

 have not found any scar on the Dicranura larvae with 

 eggs attached to them, which would indicate such severe 

 treatment. 



I wish now to correct a mistaken account which I gave 

 last year of the ovum and the newly-hatched Paniscus 

 larva. The mistake was due to the fact that the ova 

 were partially hatched when I first examined them. In 

 Trans. Ent.'Soc. Lond., Pt. II., June, 1886, p. 164, I 

 thus described the ovum : — " The free anterior pointed 

 end of the ovum is marked off from the rest by a distinct 

 line, and after development begins it remains attached 

 to the young larva as a black and shining head-shield." 

 The fact is that the unhatched ovum is rounded ante- 

 riorly, and exhibits no lines upon its surface, but in 

 hatching it splits along the lower surface, corresponding 

 to the ventral line of the enclosed larva, the line of 

 separation passing upwards over the anterior and on to 

 the front part of the superior surface of the black shell 

 of the ovum. The head of the larva partially protrudes 

 through the anterior part of the fissure thus made, and 

 it is black and shining on its upper surface, exactly 

 resembling the shell of the ovum. Gradual growth 

 brings the head completely out of the ovum, being 

 separated from it by the white larval body; but for 

 many hours the head can alone be seen on an 



