286 Linnaan Society. 



taken by him in his garden at Norton some years ago, and described 

 by Mr. Frederick Smith, in his Memoir on British Wasps, under 

 the name of Vespa borealis ; but on submitting to that gentleman 

 specimens taken alive from the nest, they were determined by him 

 to be neuters of the common wasp, Vespa vulgaris. 



The author concludes by stating his intention to present the por- 

 tion of the nest exhibited to the British Museum, where, if deemed 

 worthy of preservation, it may be placed next to the Chinese nest, 

 which it so closely resembles. 



Read in continuation a paper " On the Anatomy and Development 

 of certain Chalcididce and Ichneumonidce," &c. Part II. By George 

 Newport, Esq., F.R.S. & L.S. 



The author first read a " Postscript" to the preceding part of this 

 paper, abstracted at p. 277, one object of which was to confirm his 

 statement, which had been questioned by Mr. Westwood, that he 

 discovered the insect, Anthophorabia, in 1831, at which time he had 

 made known the fact to D. W. Nash, Esq., now a Fellow of the 

 Society, who permitted him to make known the circumstance. The 

 author also corrected his view with regard to the nature of the food 

 of the larva of the second species he had discovered in the nest of 

 Anthophora, Which he had named provisionally Monodontomerus 

 nitidus, but which is now believed to be Monodontomerus obsoletus, 

 which species had been suspected of infesting the genus Osmia, 

 although the larva had hitherto been unknown. Having carefully 

 examined the form of its mandibles since the first part of the paper 

 was read, he now finds that they are acute, slender, and fitted only 

 for piercing and not for comminuting food, and consequently he agrees 

 with Mr. Smith that the species is carnivorous, and not pollinivorous 

 as he had supposed. Further examination of this larva, therefore, 

 has tended to confirm the general views which he had maintained, 

 that structure when carefully and accurately investigated is an in- 

 fallible index to function and habits. 



The second part of the paper on the Ichneumonidte was then read. 

 This comprised a detailed account of the natural history of Paniscus 

 virgatus from the bursting of the ovum to the assumption of the 

 imago state. The egg, as noticed by Degeer in Ophion luteum, and 

 by Hartig in other species, is afhxed by a pedicle to the skin of the 

 caterpillar on which the larva is destined to feed, and the larva con- 

 tinues attached to it during the whole period of growth. Mr. New- 

 port found the eggs of Paniscus virgatus on the full-grown larva of 

 the broom-moth, Mamestra pisi, on the 26th of September 1847. 

 They were black, shining, and of a pear-shaped form, and each was 

 attached by a pedicle inserted into the skin of the caterpillar. At 

 the moment of being hatched they were burst in front, by a vertical 

 fissure, like the eggs of the Iulidce, and the head only of the larva 

 was gradually protruded, so that at first these ova more resembled 

 the growing seeds of leguminous plants than animal organisms. 

 The anterior portion only of the body was afterwards slowly pro- 

 truded, but the larvae gave no evidence of sensation during the whole 



