The Primary Larva of the Oil-Beetles 



Though the green carpet was continued 

 for a considerable distance along the side of 

 the road, I could not detect a single Meloe- 

 larva elsewhere than in the few square yards 

 lying in front of the bank inhabited by the 

 Mason-bee. These larvae therefore could 

 not have come far; to find themselves near 

 the Anthophorse they had had no long pil- 

 grimage to make, for there was not a sign 

 of the inevitable stragglers and laggards that 

 follow in the wake of a travelling caravan. 

 The burrows in which the eggs were hatched 

 were therefore in that turf opposite the 

 Bees' abode. Thus the Oil-beetles, far from 

 laying their eggs at random, as their wander- 

 ing life might lead one to suppose, and leav- 

 ing their young to the task of approaching 

 their future home, are able to recognize the 

 spots haunted by the Anthophorae and lay 

 their eggs in the near neighbourhood of those 

 spots. 



With such a multitude of parasites occu- 

 pying the composite flowers in close proximity 

 to the Anthophora's nests, it is impossible 

 that the majority of the swarm should not 

 become infested sooner or later. At the 

 time of my observations, a comparatively 

 tiny proportion of the starving legion was 

 waiting on the flowers; the others were still 



93 



