liev. L. Guilding's Account of Margarodes. 117 



under which some families of ants had established receptacles 

 for their broods. Many lay near the surface, while others, 

 buried at the depth of many inches, would require (even aided 

 by their strong fossorious legs) the favourable opportunity of a 

 shower to enable them to penetrate to the surface, and attack 

 the congregated larvae of the ant. Though armed with a noble 

 microscope, I cannot satisfy myself as to the form of the foramen 

 in the anterior claws, through which the liquid food is pumped, 

 as in the mandibles of the larvaj of the Myrmeleonida. I do not 

 remember any other perfect insect in which the mouth is alto- 

 gether wanting, and the food is absorbed by tubes ending in a 

 foramen ; and it will probably be found necessary to constitute 

 a new order for its reception. It is curious, too, that the tubes 

 for feeding should be seated in the anterior legs. It is well 

 known that the raptorious legs of the Scolopendridce are tubular, 

 but this structure is only applied to the injection of the deaden- 

 ing poison by which they kill or stupefy their prey. 



I once thought that the ground pearls were the ova of some 

 insect ; but from the great diversity in their size and shape it was 

 impossible to maintain this opinion : the ova of the same insect 

 rarely differing in any very sensible degree. It was moreover 

 easy to trace on the greater number of specimens, when cleaned, 

 a rostriform projection {tab. l'2.f.5.a.), with several minute and 

 obliterated spots, which seem to mark the position of the legs, or 

 rather, perhaps, the spiracula of the larvae : the anal portion of 

 the pearl is also remarkable for five minute and regular spots, two 

 placed in a line, and three {tab. 12./. 6.) smaller ones in a triangle 

 between them. The pearl is irregular in its outline, the smaller 

 specimens are roundish, while the larger ones are swollen on the 

 sides, with the anal termination often bent upwards {tab. 12./. 5.). 

 The whole puparium is covered with large caducous scales, 

 which strongly effervesce and disappear in nitric and muriatic 



acids, 



