56 THE LIFE-STORY OF INSECTS [CH. 



in leaves or seeds, or tunnelling beneath the bark of 

 trees, have no legs at all, the place of these limbs 

 being indicated only by tiny tubercles on the thoracic 

 segments. Such larvae as these latter are examples of 

 the type called cruciform by A. S. Packard (1898) who 

 as well as other writers has laid stress on the series 

 of transitional steps from the campodeiform to 

 the cruciform type afforded by the larvae of the 

 Coleoptera. 



A fact of much importance in the transformations 

 of beetles as pointed out by Brauer (1869) is that in 

 a few families, the first larval instar is campodeiform, 

 while the subsequent instars are cruciform. We may 

 take as an example of such 'hypermetamorphosis' 

 the life-story of the Oil or Blister-beetles (Meloidae) 

 as first described by J. H. Fabre (1857), and later 

 with more elaboration by H. Beauregard (1890). 

 From the egg of one of these beetles is hatched a 

 minute armoured larva, with long feelers, legs, and 

 cerci, whose task is, for example, to seize hold of a bee 

 in order that the latter may carry it, an uninvited 

 guest, to her nest. Safely within the nest, the little 

 'triungulin' beetle-grub moults; the second instar 

 has a soft cuticle and relatively shorter legs, which, 

 as the larva, now living as a cuckoo-parasite, proceeds 

 to gorge itself with honey, soon appear still further 

 abbreviated. Later comes a stage during which legs 

 are entirely wanting, the larva then resting and 



