$88 THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 



blister-beetles find their way to the nests of solitary bees 

 has not yet reached perfection ; for many of the larvae at- 

 tach themselves to flies, wasps, honey-bees, and other flower- 

 visiting insects, and merely gain useless transportation 

 thereby. 



Nearly two hundred species of blister-beetles have been 

 found in this country. The majority of our common species 

 belong to the genera named below. 



Meloe. The beetles of this genus present an exception 

 to the characters of the Coleoptera, in that the wing-covers, 

 instead of meeting in a straight line down the 

 middle of the back, overlap at the base (Fig. 

 717). These wing-covers are short, and the 

 wings are lacking. These beetles are called 

 oil-beetles in England, on account of the yel- 

 lowish liquid which oozes from their joints in 

 FIG. 717. large drops when they are handled. Our 

 most common species is the Buttercup Oil-beetle, Meloe 

 angnsticollis (Mel'o-e an-gus-ti-col'lis). It may be found in 

 meadows and pastures feeding on the leaves of various 

 species of buttercups. 



Nemognatha. The species of the genus Nemognatha 

 (Ne-mog'na-tha) are remarkable for having the maxillae 

 developed into a long sucking-tube, which is sometimes as 

 long as the body, and which resembles somewhat the suck- 

 ing-tube of a butterfly. A similar modification of the 

 maxillae occurs .in the genus Gnathium (Gnath'i-um), which 

 differs from Nemognatha in having a slight thickening of the 

 outer segments of the antennae. The species of these two 

 genera occur chiefly in the South and West. 



Our most common species of blister-beetles in the East 

 belong to the genus Epicanta (Ep-i-cau'ta). These insects 

 feed in the adult state upon the leaves of potato, and upon 

 the pollen of goldenrod ; the larvae, so far as is known, are 

 parasitic in the egg-cases of locusts. The Pennsylvania 

 Blister-beetle, Epicauta Pennsylvania, (E. penn-syl-van'i-ca), 



