94 



fxserted, corneous, heart-shaped, iiattlsh, subrufous, black 

 behind, underneath concave behind. Mon. Ap. Angl. 



Since I met with the extraordinary insect here described, 

 I have had the good fortune to extract a pair of pupse just 

 ready to be disclosed, from the body of another Melitta. 

 No sooner did I touch them, than they " burst their 

 cerements," and I was not slow to prevent their escape. 

 One of these is here figured. It seems to vary somewhat 

 from my original specimen, but not sufficiently, I think, to 

 be deemed a distinct species. The legs are black instead of 

 piceous, the abdomen also is not so totally concealed by 

 the scutellum, but is rather exserted and acute. This part, 

 however, is most probably retractile, for being fleshy, and 

 consequently liable to injury, it wants the shelter which 

 the scutellum above and the processes on the sides and be- 

 neath (fig. 7. Ih.J seem designed to afford it. The velvetty 

 blackness of the body makes the sutures of the trunk and 

 the inosculations of the first joints of the antennae very 

 difficult to distinguish even under a powerful magnifier. 

 In my original specimen I discovered only a single joint 

 before the antennae branched out. Mr. Sowerby found two, 

 as represented \njig. 5. The shape of the lower branch or 

 auricle seems different also in the two specimens. 



*' Mr. Sowerby suggested to me that what I took for 

 larvae of this insect {A^onogr. Ap. Angl. Ill — 14) were 

 really pupae : — To this ingenious conjecture I readily ac- 

 cede, as it removes all the difficulty with respect to their 

 mode of feeding; the larva living entirely within the body 

 till it is rcadv to take the pupa, and then exerting its head 

 at the dorsal inosculations of the abdominal segments, that 

 the perfect animal may the more readily disengage itself 

 when its time for disclosure is come. The pupae are gene- 

 rally found in pairs, {fg. 1,2), these may probably be the 

 sexes." 



This genus appears not be confined to Melitta, for I 

 have more than once found their exuviae in the body of 

 foreign Vcspas. 



