" In nil account of the vvuys of llie fly Bengalia reference 

 was niu.dc as to the escape, by making convulsive wriggles, 

 of these larvae from the fly bent on seizing them and sucking 

 their juices. The further vakie of the action on the part of 

 the larvae was shown in the course of a study of the habits 

 of the wasp Entitenes tnaxUI,osa, de (I., which in E. Africa 

 stores its nest with the larvae, a |)n'y dilTereiit from that 

 stored by the; sj)ecies in S. Nigeria, wliieh there collects 

 Noctuid larvae. 



" At Lindi ill Decendjer 1918 the Eumenids were so abun- 

 dant thai many o|)portunities were att'orded of watching them, 

 and there was an absolute plague of the Pierine larvae. A 

 Eumenid flies round and round the bush, a leguminous plant, 

 on which the larvae feed, examining the larvae; in turn, espe- 

 cially the larger ones. Unless almost at maturity the larva 

 shows no appreciation of the jiresence of its enemy, nor does 

 the wasp molest it; for it preys only on those fully grown. 

 But when the wasp approaches a mature larva, it usually 

 shows instant alarm, evading its would-be ca])tor by immedi- 

 ately dropping unsupported l)y silk, and, should if fall on a 

 leaf, wriggling violently, so as at once to reach the ground. 

 In this way it usually escapes, especially if it has fallen from 

 a height; for the wasp usually gives up the quest at once;, 

 though in a few cases in which the attack was made on a 

 larva near the ground, the wasp was seen to settle and to 

 wander in search of it in a ])erfunctory way. In no singh; 

 instance, however, was a larva seen to be taken when once 

 it had fallen. 



" When, owing to lack of promptitude in dropping, a larva 

 is seized by the Eumenid, the first act of the captor — gripping 

 it behind the liend and often pinning it to the midrib of the 

 leaf on which during the warmer hours the larva rests — is to 

 sting it ventrally in the centre of each of the first three seg- 

 ments. 'Ilie larva forthwith becomes motionless, and the 

 wasj) then endeavours to lift it. This it is frequently at first 

 unable to do, for, j^robably owing to tonic muscular spasm 

 induced by the injected jjoison, the abdominal feet still firmly 

 gri]) th(! leaf, in which case the wasp, sup))orting the larva 

 with its legs, j)roceeds with its mandibles to disengage in 



