55§ TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



characters it agrees more nearly with Epicauta, and in the stage 

 following the first molt the legs are still quite long and the general 

 aspect much like the carabidoid stage of that genus. I should 

 not be surprised, therefore, if Cantharis also nourished on locust 

 eggs, and I hope that my friends in South France will not fail to 

 make the test. 



What is known of the Larval Habits of other Meloid Genera. 



Mylabris, Fabr. {nee Geoff.), according to V.-Mayet, is much 

 less prolific than any Meloids so far observed. The egg is 2.5 mm. 

 long and j as wide, with a tolerably thick shell and the embryo 

 more fully bent within it. The triungulin has many of the char- 

 acters of Epicauta, judging from the published description (A?zn. 

 Soc. Ent. de Fr., 1876, p. exevi.), which is, however, not suffi- 

 ciently detailed as to the tropin. I doubt not that the genus will 

 be found to infest locust eggs. 



Horia, Fabr., from what little is known of it, would seem to 

 have a similar partial parasitism to Meloe, but on Carpenter bees. 



Tetraonyx, Latr. was found by Guerin-Meneville in places fre- 

 quented by Bumble-bees. 



The eggs of Apalus Fabr., as well as its triungulin, are said to 

 resemble those of Meloe. 



Zonitis, Fabr. is known to develop in the cells of Osmia and 

 Anthidium, and to have a coarctate larva much like that of 

 Si tar is. 



descriptive. 



Epicauta vittata. — Egg. — Average length 1.6 mm., diameter rather 

 more than i the length. Elongate, cylindrical, rounded at extremities, 

 the anterior end being very slightly larger than the posterior. Rarely a 

 little curved. Color very pale whitish-yellow. Smooth and shiny — the 

 shell somewhat stiff, bearing considerable finger and thumb pressure and 

 cracking with some noise. Laid loosely in the ground in irregular batches 

 of 130 and upward. Embryo lying straight, with head bent on breast. 



Larva: First Larva or Triungulin.— Elongate, subcylindrical, the ven- 

 ter being flattened. Average length when just from the egg, 3 mm. Width 

 across prothoracic joint not quite \ the length ; tapering thence gradually 

 to anus. Head prominent, well separated from neck, flattened, slightly 

 depressed, as broad as, or slightly broader than joint 1 ; with the ordinarv 

 Y-shaped suture superiorly and with an elongate medial triangular piece 

 interiorly, attenuating to thorax; also, a suture interiorly starting from 

 near the middle and curving toward base of antenna? ; with a few spinous 



