FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



the intermediate instars in this way, and we must look 

 on them as necessitated by the physiological processes 

 going on internally. Nothing, however, is known as to 

 these." 



Fabre and others have described the European species 

 of Sitaris living in much the same way at the expense of 

 bees of the genus Anthophora. 



. This is our only genus of the subfamily 



Meloinae, or Meloides as it is called in the 

 quotation from Sharp. The species are known as Oil- 

 beetles; when disturbed, they give off a disagreeable, 

 oily fluid. The short elytra do not nearly cover the over- 

 sized abdomen. "The female Aleloe is very prolific. 

 She lays at three or four different intervals, in loose irregular 

 masses in the ground, and may produce from three to 

 four thousand eggs. These are soft, whitish, cylindrical, 

 and rounded at each end. They give birth to the triun- 

 gulins, which a few days after hatching the number 

 depending on the temperature run actively about and 

 climb on to Composite, Ranunculaceous, and other flowers, 

 from which they attach themselves to bees and flies that 

 visit the flowers. Fastening alike to many hairy Diptera 

 and to Hymenoptera which can be of little or no service 

 to them, many are doomed to perish, and only the few 

 fortunate ones are carried to the proper cells of some 

 Anthophora" (Riley). It is probable that different species 

 of Meloe are parasitic on different species or even genera 

 of bees. Our species may be differentiated as follows : 



1. Pronotum not longer than wide 2. 



Pronotum longer than wide, sparsely and irregularly 



punctate; color deep bluish-black; elytra finely rugose; 

 see Plate LXXXV angusticollis. 



2. Color dull black; pronotum with an impression on basal 

 half of median line impressus. 



Color blue or bluish-black; pronotum not impressed. .3. 



3. Pronotum rather densely punctate; elytra not roughly 

 sculptured niger. 



Pronotum coarsely and deeply, not densely, punctured; 

 elytra coarsely sculptured ; color more decidedly blue and 

 more shining americamis. 



390 



