aes 
3359 

it never reaches the stage of growth when it can lay eggs 
or reproduce its kind, for before this time the growing 
larvee within destroy it, as it were, by slow consumption. 
Some affected caterpillars die soon, others nearly reach 
their full growth, and a few undergo their transformation 
into the chrysalis state before death. It is, therefore, not 
an uncommon thing for a butterfly-collector, who hopes to 
see a fine moth disengage itself from its pupal covering, 
to be disappointed by the appearance of several little 
parasitic Hymenoptera that had been living within the 
chrysalis he has been keeping.” 

Fic. 































NATURE 


[| Fed. 23, 1871 
One of the most curious recent discoveries among 
beetles is that which was published by Schiddte, in 1864, 
of viviparous Staphylinidz. These are about the tenth of 
an inch long, and are found in the nests of the Termites 
of Brazil. They are distinguished by the swollen deve- 
lopment of the abdomen, which is carried in a most 
peculiar manner, being turned up and allowed to rest on 
the back of the insect. The enormous distension of this 
part of the body is due to the fact that the beetles do not 
lay eggs, but produce living larvze, and they are the only 
beetles that do so, It is supposed that the hairs which 

in 
\ ny 
Fic, 2.—IcHNEUMONS 
Ephiaites manifestator. The male is flying on the left, and the female is introducing an egg into the body of a larva. Another Ephialtes, Rhyssa 
persuasoria, a female, ison the branch to the left hand. 
cover some parts of the abdomen are furnished witha 
peculiar secretion that is liked by the white ants among 
which they live. 
The extraordinary economy of many of the Diptera or 
flies is exhibited in a variety of beautiful cuts, one of 
the best of which represents the metamorphoses of 
Stratiomys himeleo. This fly frequents flowers in order 
to prey upon other insects, but its larva lives in stagnant 
water, and is a long, hard-skinned creature, whose small 
head js furnished with two minute hook-like mandibles. 

The terminal segments of the body are gradually narrowed, 
and can be elongated like a sliding telescope, and the 
slender extremity terminates in two small orifices crowned 
with hairs. This larva swims about in shallow water, and 
when it wants to breathe it sticks up the end of its body 
and respires through the two small holes at the apex. 
When the larva is mature it floats on the surface, the pupa 
being formed within the skin, which serves at once as a 
cocoon and as a boat, from which in due time the brightly- 
coloured and active fly escapes to its aéGrial existence. 
