286 Linnean Society. 
taken by him in his garden at Norton some years ago, and described 
by Mr. Frederick Smith, in his Memoir on British Wasps, under 
the name of Vespa borealis; but on submitting to that gentleman 
specimens taken alive from the nest, they were determined by him 
to be neuters of the common wasp, Vespa vulgaris. 
The author concludes by stating his intention to present the por- 
tion of the nest exhibited to the British Museum, where, if deemed 
worthy of preservation, it may be placed next to the Chinese nest, 
which it so closely resembles. 
Read in continuation a paper “‘ On the Anatomy and Development 
of certain Chalcidide and Ichneumonide,”’ &c. Part Il. By George 
Newport, Esq., F.R.S. & L.S. 
The author first read a ‘‘ Postscript’”’ to the preceding part of this 
paper, abstracted at p. 277, one object of which was to confirm his 
statement, which had been questioned by Mr. Westwood, that he 
discovered the insect, Anthophorabia, in 1831, at which time he had 
made known the fact to D. W. Nash, Esq., now a Fellow of the 
Society, who permitted him to make known the circumstance. The 
author also corrected his view with regard to the nature of the food 
of the larva of the second species he had discovered in the nest of 
Anthophora, which he had named provisionally Monodontomerus 
nitidus, but which is now believed to be Monodontomerus obsoletus, 
which species had been suspected of infesting the genus Osmia, 
although the larva had hitherto been unknown. Having carefully 
examined the form of its mandibles since the first part of the paper 
was read, he now finds that they are acute, slender, and fitted only 
for piercing and not for comminuting food, and consequently he agrees 
with Mr. Smith that the species is carnivorous, and not pollinivorous 
as he had supposed. Further examination of this larva, therefore, 
has tended to confirm the general views which he had maintained, 
that structure when carefully and accurately investigated is an in- 
fallible index to function and habits. 
The second part of the paper on the Ichneumonide was then read. 
This comprised a detailed account of the natural history of Paniscus 
virgatus from the bursting of the ovum to the assumption of the 
imago state. The egg, as noticed by Degeer in Ophion luteum, and 
by Hartig in other species, is affixed by a pedicle to the skin of the 
caterpillar on which the larva is destined to feed, and the larva con- 
tinues attached to it during the whole period of growth. Mr. New- 
port found the eggs of Paniscus virgatus on the full-grown larva of 
the broom-moth, Mamestra pisi, on the 26th of September 1847, 
They were black, shining, and of a pear-shaped form, and each was 
attached by a pedicle inserted into the skin of the caterpillar. At 
the moment of being hatched they were burst in front, by a vertical 
fissure, like the eggs of the Julide, and the head only of the larva 
was gradually protruded, so that at first these ova more resembled 
the growing seeds of leguminous plants than animal organisms. 
The anterior portion only of the body was afterwards slowly pro- 
truded, but the larvee gave no evidence of sensation during the whole 
