﻿168 BRITISH BEETLES. 



produced in the middle ; the hooks of the tarsi are bifid ; 

 and the third and foHowing joints of the antennse in the 

 male are divided into double fan-like rays. 



The perfect insect is found (according to Lacordaire) 

 sometimes on flowers, or at the exuding sap of trees, and 

 I possess a specimen taken under bark, in Scotland ; but 

 its real home is in the nests of the common Wasps 

 ( Vespa rufa and vulgaris), in which, also, it undergoes 

 its transformations ; and it has been observed by Mr. 

 S. Stone (who has for a long ])eriod accurately observed 

 the economy of certain coleopterous parasites on Hy- 

 meno'pterd) that the larger larvse (from which the females 

 are produced) are found with, and feed on, the female 

 wasp grubs, — the fact, but not the object of such asso- 

 ciation having been long before known. 



The MeloidtE have a very abrupt neck to the head, 

 and each of the hooks of the tarsi divided into two, as 

 if with an additional and slender hook on its lower 

 surface. 



In Meloe (the Oil-beetles) the metasternum is very 

 short, with the intermediate coxa3 overlapping those of 

 the posterior legs, the elytra strongly reflected at the 

 sides, short, overlapping, and gaping at the apex, and 

 no wings. 



One or two of the species are well known, being often 

 seen in very early spring on heaths, commons, and lanes, 

 especially on the buttercup. They ai'c large, blue-black, 

 heavy, bloated-bodied creatures, crawling slowly, and 

 exuding a clear yellow oil from their joints when handled, 

 which was formerly used for medicinal purposes. When 

 dried, the normal distension of the body disappears, the 

 abdomen shrinking up beneath the elytra in a wrinkled 

 unsightly knot : specimens for the cabinet should, there- 



