﻿THE HETEROMERA. 171 



entrance of the hole burrowed by the Anthophora ; and, 

 after passing through the stages above mentioned, and 

 taking no food in its third form, changes into a pupa of 

 the ordinary Coleopterous type, from which, in about a 

 month, the perfect insect appears, — the entire changes 

 occupying nearly two years. In the case of Sitaris, of 

 which the perfect beetle is always found in or about the 

 burrows of the bee, the entire scheme of life is readily 

 credible, even if it had not been accurately observed ; but 

 in Melo'e there still remains an awkward gap for which 

 an account is required, viz. the passage of a heavy, slow- 

 going, large beetle from the nest of the bee to the common 

 or meadow where it is always found. 



Particulars of the discoveries as to this insect are to 

 be found in Mr. Newport's paper in the * Linnean 

 Transactions,' vol. xx. p. 297, and vol. xxi. p. 167 ; also 

 in M. Fabre's " Memoire sur I'Hypermetamorphose et 

 les moeui's des Meloides," ' Annales des Sciences Na- 

 turelles,' ser. 4, vol. vii. 1857, p. 299; and in Lacor- 

 daire, Col., vol. v. 2nd part, 651. 



Our remaining species, the well-known " Blister- 

 beetle" or " Spanish -fly " {Lijtia vesicatoria) , the old 

 Cantharis, is very different in shape, etc., to the mem- 

 bers of either of the preceding genera, — being elon- 

 gate, cylindrical, with long legs and antennae, and bright 

 metallic-green in colour. It is occasionally taken in 

 the southern counties, but can scarcely be considered as 

 truly indigenous. 



The (EDEMERiDiE are elongate, slender, with thin legs 

 and antennae, no abrupt neck to the head, simple hooks 

 to the tarsi, the mandibles flattened and bifid at the 

 apex, and the penultimate joint of the tarsi bi-lobed. 

 Their larvse live in rotten wood, and resemble those of 



