of the Oil Beetle, Meloe. 317 



inent ; and also, that its rate of growth is as rapid as its change of form is 

 extraordinary. I have already stated that the perfect insect is most abundant 

 about the middle of April, and deposits its eggs towards the latter end of that 

 month, or in the beginning of May ; that the eggs are hatched in from three 

 to five weeks, according to the temperature of the season ; and that the larvae 

 come forth at the end of May, or in the beginning of June. This is the 

 period when the Anthophoroe are most busily employed in constructing and 

 storing their nests, in places that are constantly exposed to the sun, and 

 when many of their eggs are already hatched. I have little doubt that it is 

 at this period that the Meloe attaches itself to the parent bee when she alights 

 on the flowers for pollen, and is conveyed by her into her nest while storing 

 it with food, as suggested by Latreille. The growth of the bee-maggot itself 

 at this period of the year is exceedingly rapid ; and this rapidity is owing as 

 much to the very high temperature of its cell — (which I have elsewhere* shown 

 sometimes exceeds 80° Fahr.), and also to the powerful influence of the light 

 of the morning and midday sun, to which the banks where the nests are con- 

 structed are exposed, — as to its nutritious food. Like circumstances appear to 

 hasten the growth of the larvae of Meloe. The full-grown bee-larvae are found 

 in abundance in the month of July, and many of them have already changed 

 to nymphs by the beginning of August. It is at this period that I have 

 obtained many full-grown larvae of Meloe in cells surrounded by those of 

 Anthophora. From these facts it is fair to conclude that those Meloes which 

 are developed from the first laying of eggs arrive at their full growth within 

 a very few weeks, as I have invariably found the full-grown larvae by the 

 middle of August, at which time also, like the Anthophorce, many have already 

 changed to the state of nymphs. The shortness of the period which seems 

 thus to be occupied in the larva state, and the consequent rapidity of the 

 almost total change of form which it undergoes, may in part account for the 

 circumstance that the full-grown larva has hitherto so entirely escaped the 

 observations of naturalists. 



After many fruitless attempts, through twelve years, to find specimens of the 

 larva of Meloe in a stage intermediate between the very young and the adult 

 form, I had almost despaired of success, until, in the present autumn, in 

 October last, on visiting the same bank at Richborough from which I have 



* Phil. Trans, part 2, 1837, tab. 3. p. 279. 

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