2 Mr. G. C. Champion and Dr. T. A. Chapman's 



The larvae feed up rapidly in confinement, and submit to 

 various conditions without apparently suffering in health. 



The little attention we gave to these beetles in 1899 

 led us to believe that there were several closely allied 

 forms which varied in much the same manner, so that 

 an arrangement of the specimens by colour alone, would 

 look much more natural, than each species by itself if 

 represented by all its varieties. 



This year we came across a colony of a very similar 

 insect at Pontresina, a species that seemed to have almost 

 precisely the same range of variation as 0. gloriosa. This 

 species turned out to be Orina vittigera, and presented 

 not a few of the " superb " copper-striped form that does 

 not appear to have been recognised as occurring in vitti- 

 gera, and which is certainly not so common as we found it 

 in the Fusio insect. We felt constrained to take a con- 

 tinued interest in these from the variety point of view. 

 One of the first things, however, that I noticed when 

 looking at them on their food-plant, was a female beetle, 

 laying, not eggs, but larvae. The fact that the species 

 was viviparous was new to us at the time, and led us to 

 make further observations. We find, however, that this 

 habit had been recorded, so far back as 1855, by M. Perroud 

 (Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 1855), and has since been noticed 

 by other entomologists, especially by Herr J. Weise. 

 With the single exception of a note in the Ent. Monthly 

 Mag. Vol. XL, we can find no allusion to this habit in 

 any English (or American) Journals or Text-books; the 

 latter indeed refer to Schiodte's 1 observations on certain 

 termitophilous Staphylinidse as being all that is known of 

 viviparity in Coleoptera. 



We afterwards secured three other species of Orina 

 from which we were able to obtain eggs or larvae and to 

 rear the latter to full growth, so that we are able to add 

 a little to what has hitherto been recorded, as well as 

 having had the pleasure of observing some interesting 

 facts, practically unknown to English Entomologists. 



The papers we have been able to find bearing on the life- 

 history of these beetles are not numerous ; it may be use- 

 ful to give the following short account of them : — 



M. Perroud's original note records how he brought 

 home specimens of 0. gloriosa (from near the Grande 

 Chartreuse), and found small larvae in his boxes that he 

 1 Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. 1857. 



