MELOE PROSCARAB^EUS. 247 



the number of the spots, which are also sometimes 

 so much larger than usual as to be nearly confluent. 

 A few specimens may be observed with the elytra of 

 a uniform dull red without any spots at all. 



MELOE PROSCARAB^EUS.* 



IN the spring of 1836, I found a large female of 

 this species on a bank, apparently in the act of depo- 

 siting its eggs. On removing it to a glass jar, with 

 several inches of damp earth at bottom, it continued 

 laying its eggs ; from which, in about a fortnight's 

 time, (as near as I remember, for I have no note 

 of the exact period,) were hatched a large number of 

 those small hexapod insects, similar to what are found 

 parasitical on bees, and concerning which entomolo- 

 gists have been so much puzzled, as to whether they 

 are the real larvae of the meloe or not. These were 

 of a rufo-testaceous colour, and about three-fourths 

 of a line in length, or barely so much. They are 

 certainly identical with a parasite of exactly the 

 same form, size, and colour, which I have frequently 

 observed on bees on the Devil's Ditch, as well as 

 swarming on the blossoms of the dandelion, and 

 other plants growing in that locality. It is worth 

 noticing, however, that there appear to be more than 

 one species of this hexapod parasitical on hymeno- 

 pterous insects. I have seemingly two distinct ones 

 in my collection, which occur equally often in this 

 neighbourhood : one of these is that just noticed as 



. * Proscarab&us vulgaris, Steph. Man. p. 335. , 



