300 Mr. Newrort on the Natural History 
and not only require their food to be fresh-gathered, but also that it should 
be frequently wetted, otherwise they will not thrive. They pair during the 
forenoon and middle part of a very fine day, a few days after they have left 
their hybernacula. The males are exceedingly salacious, and traverse the fields 
with great rapidity in search of their partners. When the object of solicitude 
is discovered, the male salutes her on the thorax and body with his antennze, 
and vibrating his palpi rapidly with delight, repeatedly touches her lightly on 
the upper part of the head and front with these organs, as if caressing /her 
with great earnestness. The connubial intercourse often lasts from two to 
three hours, during which the antennz of the female are clasped -by those 
of her partner, and she continues to feed as if almost unconscious of his 
presence. 
When the two sexes of different species of Meloë are confined together, an 
intercourse sometimes takes place between them; the male of JM. violaceus 
with the female of M. proscarabeus, and vice versá; and sometimes the male 
of one of these species with the female of M. cicatricosus. But I have never 
observed this aberration of instinct when the insects are at large in their 
native haunts, although it is well-known to occur between different species of 
another family, the Telephoride. The males are exceedingly pugnacious, and 
often fight and deprive each other of one of the antennæ. 
The eggs are deposited a few days after impregnation; but when this has 
been retarded, oviposition may take place within a very few hours. An. im- 
pregnated female, captured by Goedart on the 5th of May, did not deposit her 
eggs until the 12th, a period of seven days. But even this period may be 
greatly extended, as it is in part subject to the will of the insect. If there is 
no place in which the parent: can deposit her eggs in safety, she will some- 
times die. without depositing them at all. Goedart* and DeGeert+ have 
stated that the Meloë deposits her eggs in the earth, and the accuracy of this 
statement I have repeatedly confirmed. In the afternoon of the 6th of April 
1830, I first observed a female M. violaceus. busily employed in digging a 
hole beneath a turf of grass at the side of a dry footpath. At the time I dis- 
covered her she had penetrated to the depth of an inch in an inclined direc- 
tion. In less than half an hour she had finished her excavation, and having 
* Goed, Métamor., tome ii. ` t DeGeer, Mém., tome v. pp. 8-12. 
