306 Mr. Newrort on the Natural History 
egg of Meloé, should have somewhat doubted the accounts that have been 
given of it as the young of that insect. As I have many times witnessed the 
actual bursting of the egg-shell, and the coming forth of this little hexapod, 
perhaps it may be well, while adding my testimony to the fact, as already 
announced by other naturalists, to state the manner in which this is effected. 
When the embryo larva is ready for its change, the egg-shell. becomes 
thinned and concave on that side which covers the ventral surface of the 
body, but is much enlarged, and more convex on the dorsal, especially 
towards the head. The shell is then burst longitudinally along the middle 
of the thoracie segments, and the fissure is extended forwards to the head, 
which then, together with the thoracic segments, is partially forced through 
the opening, but is not at once entirely withdrawn. The antenne, parts of 
the mouth, and legs, are still inclosed within separate envelopes, and retain the 
larva in this covering in the shell. Efforts are then made to detach the pos- 
terior segments of the body, which are gradually released, and with them the 
antenne, palpi and legs, and the larva removes itself entirely from the shell 
and membranes. In this process of evolution the young Meloé throws off two 
distinet coverings :—first, the shell with its lining membrane, the analogue of 
the membrane in which, as I have elsewhere shown *, the young Myriapod is 
inclosed, and retained for several days, after the bursting of the ovum, and 
which represents in the Articulata, not the allantois, but apparently the am- 
nion, of Vertebrata: next, the first, or fcetal deciduation of the tegument ; 
analogous probably to the first change of skin in the Myriapod, after it has 
escaped from the amnion, and also to the first change which the young Arach- 
nidan invariably undergoes a few days after it has left the egg, and before it 
can take food. This tegument, which, perhaps, may be analogous to the 
vernix caseosa of Vertebrata, thrown off at the instant of birth, is left by the 
young Meloé with the amnion in the shell ; and its separation from the body 
at this early period seems necessary to fit the insect for the active life it has 
commenced. 
The shell and membranes are so delicate, when the larva has removed from 
| them, that their existence can hardly be detected by the naked eye, and even 
with a lens of low power they may readily be overlooked, and the ovum seem 
* Phil. Trans., part 2, 1841, p. 111. 
