110 Sir S. S. Saunders on the 



He here refers in a footnote to the larva of Cantharis 

 vesicatoria, which Zier says " is of a yellow colour when 

 it leaves the egg, but soon afterwards changes to a deep 

 black "; and Newport suggests that " perhaps the larvae 

 described by Mr. Kirby, and that found by himself on 

 Osniia, may be more nearly allied to this insect." But 

 of the aforesaid larva of Cantharis — as more accurately 

 defined in Newport's second memoir on this subject 

 {loc. cit., p. 323) — I possess specimens reared from the 

 egg by M. Jules Lichtenstein, of Montpellier, which, 

 although exhibiting the usual structural analogy of the 

 Meloida, are utterly at variance with the specimens now 

 under consideration, whether yellow or black. 



The late Mr. Frederick Smith, who frequently met 

 with both these insects, and who has recorded his obser- 

 vations thereon on several occasions, is most conflicting 

 in his remarks respecting them. Thus in the third 

 volume of our 'Transactions' (1842, p. 294), in his 

 " Notes on the genus Nomada and on other insects," he 

 states : — " In April, 1841, I found the supposed larvae of 

 Meloe proscarahceus in profusion in the flowers of a wild 

 plant ; as many as twenty in some flowers ; I might 

 have collected thousands. This was in Bishop's Wood, 

 Hampstead. In June of the same year I found a 

 similar insect or larvce {sic) attached to the under side of 

 the abdomen of Nomada Schdfferella. They are evidently 

 distinct species, different in form and colour, one being 

 hlack, the oi/ier yellow." 



He here speaks of the one and the other in the 

 singular — tvhich then are the thousands adverted to in 

 the first instance ? He must have conceived that in de- 

 fining these multitudes as " the supposed larvae of Meloe" 

 it would be sufficiently obvious that such larvae are 

 always yelloiv, and consequently that the " similar 

 insect " found on a Nomada could only be the hlack ; but 

 why invert their order of precedence ? By appending 

 the qualification " or larvcs " he would seem to hesitate 

 as to the character of this second insect, in accordance 

 with the doubts he has elsewhere expressed in regard to 

 the Pediculiis Melittce, whether to be regarded as a larval 

 form or as a perfect insect ; and in employing the plural 

 here (unless by a slip of the pen) he may have found 

 more than one of this " similar insect " on the aforesaid 

 Nomada, though he does not say so. They could 

 not, however, have amounted to "thousands" \ This 



