88 Mr. A. Alurray on the Behxtiona 



speak to it from experience. In placint;: the nest from which 

 I took my BJn'piphori in tlic South-Kensington jMuseum, I 

 thouglit it might be desirable to mark the colls out of which 1 

 liad taken Bhipijil/ori] and I accordingly set abcnit doing so 

 by painting blue the lid of each cell cnit of which I took one. 

 At lirst I attem})tod to do it by first taking out the insect and 

 then })ainting the lid; but I found the short space of time 

 between laying down the force])s and taking up the iiainting- 

 brusli sufficient to efface or render uncertain tlic identity of 

 the cell from which it had been taken. I therefore had to 

 take the precaution of painting the half-opened lid before 1 

 drew out the JRhqn'phorus. 



But, furtlier, if the rate and mode of growth of the Hhipi- 

 jihori is that stated, they should always be found engaged in 

 the way Mr. Stone describes. They should always l)e found 

 in sealed cells, if one Avasp-grub is sufficient to nourish them ; 

 whereas this is the only instance that has ever been observed 

 of it. (Mr. Smith says no ; but I shall presently show that it 

 is.) Mr. Stone himself records having found a number of 

 larva" of Rhijnphorus wdiich wx may fairly infer were not so 

 occu])icd, for he ^vould have recorded it had they been so : 

 two he mentions having found solitary in worker-cells ; and 

 although he does not specify Avhere or how he found the others 

 engaged, still, if not in a cell with a wasp-grub, there is only 

 one other place for them to be found in, viz. solitary in cells 

 by themselves. Now I should like ]\Ir. Smith to say what the 

 mass of the larva3 are doing in cells by themselves. If it had 

 been pnpa^, we might liave inferred that they had completed 

 their task, eaten up their man, and retired from active life : 

 but larvge are different ; they have still more or less of their 

 task to do. Again, if ^Ir. Stone's observation is correct, we 

 should never see any half-growm larvoe. There should be no 

 medium bctw^een a " minute " one and a full-grown one, ex- 

 cept during the forty-eight hours at Avhich it is at its meal ; 

 but ]\Ir. Smith speaks of specimens of under-grown larv?e ; 

 and if I am to suppose that the grubs I saw^ with a curd-like 

 interior shining through the back w'cre Blnjnphoj'm-gruh^, 

 then I can say for myself that I saw them of all sizes. In 

 relation to this I may remark that j\Ir. Smith founds on the 

 size of the perfect insect an argument which I am sure, on re- 

 consideration, he will abandon. lie argues that insects which 

 in their larval state are dependent for their sustenance on 

 chance or iiTcgular supplies of food are apt to vary much in 

 size, which is quite true ; but he goes on to instance the liJn- 

 piphorus as one of the examples of parasites that differ greatly 

 in size. Now this, altliougli true to the letter, is not true in 



