The Garden Scolia attacks Oryctes nasicornis; the Two-banded Scolia
the Cetonia; the Interrupted Scolia the Anoxia. All three operate below
ground, under the most unfavourable conditions; and all three have for
their victim a larva of one of the Scarabaeidae, which, thanks to the
exceptional arrangement of its nerve-centres, lends itself, alone of all
larvae, to the Wasp's successful enterprises. In the presence of
this underground game, so greatly varied in size and shape and yet
so judiciously selected to facilitate paralysis, I do not hesitate to
generalize and I accept, as the ration of the other Scoliae, larvae of
Lamellicorns whose species will be determined by future observation.
Perhaps one of them will be found to give chase to the terrible enemy of
my crops, the voracious White Worm, the grub of the Cockchafer; perhaps
the Hemorrhoidal Scolia, rivalling in size the Garden Scolia and like
her, no doubt, requiring a copious diet, will be entered in the insects'
"Who's Who" as the destroyer of the Pine-chafer, that magnificent
Beetle, flecked with white upon a black or brown ground, who of an
evening, during the summer solstice, browses on the foliage of the
fir-trees. Though unable to speak with certainty or precision, I am
inclined to look upon these devourers of Scarabaeus-grubs as valiant
agricultural auxiliaries.
The Cetonia-larva has figured hitherto only in its quality of a
paralysed victim. We will now consider it in its normal state. With its
convex back and its almost flat ventral surface, the creature is like a
semi-cylinder in shape, fuller in the hinder portion. On the back, each
of the segments, except the last, or anal, segment, puckers into three
thick pads, bristling with stiff, tawny hairs. The anal segment, much
wider than the rest, is rounded at the end and coloured a deep brown by
the contents of the intestine, which show through the translucent skin;
it bristles with hairs like the other segments, but is level, without
pads. On the ventral surface, the segments have no creases; and the
hairs, though abundant, are rather less so than on the back. The legs,
which are quite well-formed, are short and feeble in comparison with
the animal's size. The head has a strong, horny cap for a cranium. The
mandibles are powerful, with bevelled tips and three or four teeth on
the edge of the bevel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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