o^Rliipil)lionis paradoxus. 201 



amount of food nccossaiy for the bee, or it is nourished upon 

 its larva. " If we look," ^Ir. Murray observes, " at the little 

 black de))osit of dii^ested debris at the bottom of the wasj)s' 

 cells, we find frai^anents indicating the consumption of hun- 

 dreds of insects not much smaller than themselves." This 

 statement is intended to prove the impossibility of Iihij)i- 

 phorus being nom-ished upon a single wasp-grub. In my 

 opinion the fragments are merely fragments of portions of 

 insects with which the wasp-larva had been supplied ; these 

 fragments are no proofs of the wasps having eaten entii-e in- 

 sects. A wasp fretpiently carries off a hu-ge blowfly ; but 

 ■what proof is there existing to show that the entire fly be- 

 comes the food of a single larva ? I imagine such an inference 

 will scarcely be accepted as sufficient evidence to overthrow 

 the accumulation of facts recorded by a naturalist who is no 

 longer living to support his own opinions. 



It is assumed that Mr. Stone made his observations on a 

 larva sitiuited in the middle of a comb, or at any rate sur- 

 rounded by other cells containing larva?, and that, having 

 found that %vhich he had searched for dm*ing several years, 

 he took so little precaution in making his observations, that, 

 having seen the parasite feeding, he went away, returned, 

 looked into another cell in Avhich was a mature larva of the 

 parasite, and in this manner was led to record a series of mis- 

 taken observations. I will venture to affimi that, had Mr. 

 ^lun-ay been acquainted with Mr. Stone's methodical way of 

 making his observations, he would liave felt assm-ed of such a 

 mistake being impossible. The larvae of Rhijnjihori, it is 

 affirmed, should always be found in sealed cells, if one wasp- 

 grub is sufficient to nourish them. Certainly, so they should ; 

 and be it observed that ^Ir. Stone, on taking out the wasps' 

 nest, proceeded to open the " closed cells." He afterwards 

 took thirteen nests which each contained 7?/? <};?}>/^o/v*, either in 

 the larva-, pupa-, or jK'rtect state ; he afterAvards records that, 

 on opening some " closed-up cells " appropriated to queens, 

 he fomid one larva and one pui)a. I contend that the fair 

 inference to be cbawn from this is that all were in closed cells. 

 Now it is quite possible that the larv;e (he does not say what 

 proportion these bore to the pupi\3 and perfect insects) were all 

 iidl-grown, having fed u]H)n the grubs of the was]) : of course 

 they would then be solitary in the cells. Mr. MuiTay asks 

 what the mass of larva? were doing in cells by themselves. 

 There is no mass spoken of by Mr, Stone. And will Mr. 

 ]\Iurray ventm-e to affirm that, as soon as a larva is full-fed, 

 it immediately assumes the pupa state? If he will, he will 

 do so in the face of an overwhelming mass of evidence to the 



Ann. (bMa<j. N. Hist. Ser. 4. To/, v. 14 



