o/'Rliipiphoru.s paradoxic. 203 



the wasp-grub would have done with it if it had got the hr.st 

 chance," Tlie cells opened by Mr. Stone contained full-grown 

 larva} of wasps ; they had therefore ceased to feed. It is also 

 stated to be " against all rules of probability that the cell 

 should have been opened at tliat precise juncture of time at 

 which it began its attack." Now 1 would remind every ento- 

 mologist that the fact recorded by Mr. Stone ofters an explana- 

 tion, because, although many persons have repeatedly found 

 Rhijnjihorus in wasps' nests, only two record their having ob- 

 served the beetle-larva preying upon that of the wasp. And 

 why have they not? The parasitic larva becomes full-fed in 

 forty -eight hom-s : therefore although full-fed larva have been 

 found, immature ones have seldom been met with. 



The parasitic larva is always spoken of as having eaten the 

 wasp-larva, as if it had fed upon some solid substance. If this 

 eating were understood as extracting the soft and semifluid con- 

 tents, it would be more correct. Mr. Stone made no " ludicrous 

 blunder " when he stated that it inserted its head beneath that 

 of its victim. I see no difficulty in its extracting the entire 

 contents of the larval skin in that position ; and I must protest 

 against the supposition that Mr. Stone did not know the head 

 from the tail of a wasp-larva. 



I shall only, in conclusion, offer a few remarks upon a 

 passage in which the statement requires both correction and 

 refutation. After alluding to the instance in which Mr. Stone 

 discovered a small larva of Bhqnjjhoriis firmly attached to its 

 victim, both being dead, the nest having been taken by de- 

 stroying the wasps by means of gas-tar, and both having be- 

 come partially dried, so that, when immersed in spirit, they 

 did not separate, Mr. Murray tells us that he considers this a 

 case of double occupation, similar to those which have come 

 under his notice, and the attachment to be probably nothing 

 more than what may be seen in every bottle of insects sent 

 home from abroad or collected at home, the insects having, in 

 their mortal agony, seized the nearest object with their man- 

 dibles. Xow I will ask what analogy is there between the 

 peii'cct insects collected and thrown into a bottle and larvae so 

 immersed"? Have larvae been observed to attach themselves 

 in spirit? Mr. Stone's larvae were found attached in the cell, 

 dead and partially dried — in fact, just in the position in which 

 they were when suddenly killed by the gas-tar. 



In a postscript, Mr. ^Murray admits having seen the speci- 

 mens I have just alluded to, and finds them " presenting 

 almost exactiT/ the same appearance as some specimens in the 

 South-Kensington Museum ; but he cannot say whether they 

 are merely in juxtaposition or if one has its jaws fastened on 



14* 



