94 
exserted, corneous, heart-shaped, flattish, 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 (jig . 7. Ih.J seem designed to afford it. Thevelvetty 
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 in jig. 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 (Monogr. Ap. Angl. Ill — 14) were 
really pup® : — 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 ready 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, (jg. 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 Vespa;. 
