8 Prof. Westwood on various species of the 
each other, and with only their heads and widely-opened 
mandibles free, and underneath them the empty egs- 
shells, from which they had emerged: these latter are 
curiously shaped.” It is unfortunate that my corre- 
spondent had mislaid the sprig of the plant on which 
the insects were found, as, in a subsequent communi- 
cation, he observes that he well remembers that the 
young larve were lying on the top of a white substance, 
similar to what is called by the Rev. L. Guilding 
*“circulis multis repagulorum ”’ in the case of the larve 
of A. macleayanus, of which, however, he gave no figure. 
**T placed them in a small glass box, and watched their 
habits for some weeks until they became perfect insects. 
I fed them at first on small gnats, and when they were 
larger on house and other flies. They scarcely ever 
moved from one position, lying close to and even over 
one another, and they waited until the flies walked into 
their widely-opened mandibles, when they would catch 
them with a quick sudden snap; when once received in 
that way there was no escape for the poor fly. In some 
twenty seconds it was quite dead, which led me to think 
that some poison was injected into the wound. The 
mandibles penetrated very deep and made two clean 
holes, plainly visible under the microscope after the 
insect had been sucked dry and empty. They showed 
no cannibal propensities except in one solitary instance, 
when one of them was seized by another and sucked 
empty, probably by mistake. After the third moult 
they obtained their full size, and remained in that 
condition for about ten days, when they became restless 
and wandered about seeking for a convenient situation 
in which to undergo the change to the perfect insect. I 
had placed sand at the bottom of the box, but they 
never burrowed into it. I placed one of the restless 
ones in a wine-glass half filled with fine sandy earth. 
It soon began to spin an arched cell, the web proceeding 
from a long flexible ovipositor-looking instrument, which, 
when not in use, lies concealed, sting-like, in the abdo- 
men. As the work proceeded the creature threw sand 
over the web, which was within easy reach. This went on 
for some days, when the work was finished, and I saw 
no more of the insect until it emerged from its cocoon 
a four-winged fly in a fortnight’s time. In its larval 
state it is a most voracious creature, but I do not 
