27 



are fond of basking in the hot sunshine, and are said to be most active during the early 

 and middle parts of the day. When confined in boxes for the purjiose of observing their 

 habits, it is necessary to expose them much to the sun, and supply them with an abun- 

 dance of food ; they arc then quite at home, and their proceedings may be easily watched. 

 Tiu'y drink freely of water, and require their food to be well wetted. In a few days after 

 leaving their winter quarters they pair. 



The eggs are deposited in the earth. A small excavation is made by the female, 

 sometimes as much as two inches in depth, into which, when finished, she projects her 

 body, with the head just perceptible at the entrance. After remaining in this position 

 ovipositing for about two hours, the body is withdrawn, and the earth raked with her 

 feet into the hole until it is entirely closed. These burrows are commonly made among 

 the roots of grass in a dry soil and a sunny spot ; often on the margins of a dry footpath. 

 The female always deposits two, and sometimes three or four separate layings of eggs, at 

 intervals of from two to three weeks. The first is ahvay.s the most abundant, amounting 

 usually to three or four thousand. After each deposit the abdomen seems to be almost 

 entirely emptied ; the insect then feeds voraciously, and fresh ova are soon developed. 



The eggs when first deposited are about one-twentieth of an inch in length, slightly 

 conical, obtuse at both ends, and of a bright orange coloui-. They are placed in such a 

 way that they may be parallel to each other, and adhere together at their sides, \vith one 

 end directed to the entrance of the burrow. The duration of the egg stage is greatly in- 

 fluenced by temperature, averaging from four to five weeks. 



From the egg there escapes a little active, agile creature, somewhat 

 resembling a pedir.ulus in habits ; in fact, the larva of one of the European 

 species was described by so eminent an Entomologist a* Kirby, in 1802, as 

 Pedirulns meUitcr, This young larva, a magnified illustration of which is 

 given in Fig. 1,* is of a bright yellow colour, and of an elongated form, 

 with fourteen segments. The three segments which constitute the trunk 

 are strong and powerful, for the attachment of the legs, which are furnished 

 with'sharp-ijointcd claws, especially adapted for clinging securely to any 

 object. The anal segment on its under surface is developed into a pair of 

 short prolegs. It moves with great celerity with its six true legs ; it can 

 also make use of its anal prolegs, and thus climb a nearly smooth and ver- 

 tical surface. 



The young larvae of most insects, if food is not supplied to them within 

 a day or so of the time <t{ their escaping from the egg, will die of starvation ; 

 but these young creatures will live from two to three weeks without food and 

 maintain their activity, a wonderful adaptation to the circumstances in which they are 

 placed. "When hatched, they crawl to the surface and run up the stems of various plants, 

 and often lodge themselves in the flowers and there await the visits of bees and other 

 insects who alight to collect pollen or honey. They watch their opportunity, and attach 

 themselves with great readiness to any of these insects who may come within their reach. 

 It is astonishing with what celerity they fasten themselves to their victim the instant any 

 part of its body is accessible, and with what tenacity they adhere to it, seizing it by the 

 leg, wing, or hairs of the body, and crawling up and adhering aroung the insertion of its 

 legs between the head and thorax or the thorax and abdomen, exciting the greatest possible 

 . uneasiness in the winged insect, who vainly endeavours to detach them from its body. 



Some observers are of opinion that the parasite draws nourishment from the l)ee on 

 which it fastens, but the main object of this instinctive attachment seems to be to get 

 acctss to the cells in which the young and food are stored. Once here, the young larva 

 of Miloe is said to attack the larva of the bee or other hymenopterous insect whose nest 

 is thus invaded, and being furnished with strong mandibles, they thrust them into the 

 soft parts of their victims, and prey on tiieir substance through the wounded integuments, 

 while the young bee is nourished with the stored pollen and honey. In this state, having 

 no longer any use for their active limbs, they are gradually reduced to mere tubercles, 

 and after a change of skin, the once active and sprightly creature assumes the form of a 



* The small outline alongside shows this larva of the natural size. 



