AUGUST. 221 



COLEOPTERA. MORDELLID^. 



RIPIPHOEUS. 



Generic Distinctions. Antenna deeply pectinated in the male, 

 those of the female serrated ; body arched ; thorax semicircular ; 

 elytra narrow at the tips, not meeting in a straight line, nor 

 covering the wings. 



EIPIPHORUS PAEADOXUS, sometimes called Mordella pa- 

 radoxuSj resides in the nest of the Wasp, Vespa rufa. Mr. 

 Kirby, in his Bridgewater Treatise, says, " Connected with 

 the subject of parasites is a singular history communicated 

 to me by Mr. Hope. In the month of August, 1824, he 

 found more than fifty specimens of a singular little Beetle in 

 a Wasps' nest ; from their being found in cells closed by a 

 kind of operculum, he conjectures that they lay their eggs 

 in the grub of the Wasp, upon which they doubtless feed ; 

 but on opening some of the cells, he was surprised to find 

 instead of Beetles several specimens of an Ichneumon ; upon 

 further examination he discovered that these last insects 

 had been pierced in their turn, whilst in the chrysalis state, 

 by a more minute species, of which he found more than 

 twenty specimens, flying about in search of their prey. 

 From the above facts Mr. Hope remarks, we have a con- 

 vincing proof of a superintending Power, which ordains 



