BEETLES. 



349 



f:ii- tla' liistorv of tlieir life is sutHcii'iitiy straiiuc, liut the next eliaiine of haliilat i> 

 still more curious. At tlir luoinent uiini tlu' female liee dejiosits her eg'j; u|)(>u the 

 surface of the honey in her c'ell, the aetive youn^- triuiigulin passes from the liee to 

 the egg, upon whieh the lar\a rides, as uihju a lioat, thus avoiding drowning in the 

 honey about it. The liee's cell is seale(l, and then the triuugulin liegins eating into 

 the ego- of the hee ; the contents of this eg'4 just suffices as food for the larva ahout 

 eight days, when it moults and apiieai-s as the second larva. This second Larva, unlike 

 the triuugulin, is not in danger of ilrowniug in the honey about it, and feeds upon it. 

 In the latter part of summer the second larva attains full growth, and enters the 

 pseudo-|nipal state. Most of these insei'ts hibeiaiate as pseudo-pup;e, although a few 

 a]i]iear as innigos .about the beginning of ^September. The pseudo-])up;B which hiber- 

 nate go through the third larval and tlie ]iu]ial stages from June to August of the 

 next year, appearing as beetles about the middle of Anuust. 



llitridii hiliiutlintoiis, an American sjiecies allied to Sitaris, was found by Dr. C. 

 V. Ifiley to lie parasitic upon Anthoji/iora s2yonsa, but its life history is still incom- 

 plete. The imago is about 0.5 of an inch long, with no winu's. 

 and the elytra are so extremely rudimentary as ti> Vie scarcely 

 noticeable. 



Among other genera of ]\reloida' of which more or less is 

 known concerning their life history is ZoiiUis tni/tica, a French 

 sjiecies, whose hypermetamorphosis takes place in cells of Osmia 

 tridentata. 



Jfe/oe inchicles wingless beetles, which have very short, im- 

 bricated elyti-a. that do not nearly cover the abdomen. JI. 

 (nigu!<tirollls is a steel-blue species common in the eastern 

 Ignited States. Its length is from 0.40 to 0.75 of an inch. 

 The fem.ales of Jrdoe are very prolific, ami sometimes lay as many as from three to 

 four thousand egos. Tlie life history of Melue has not been as well studied as has that 

 of Sit(irL% Ijut there is no doubt that its earlier stages are passed, in analogous mode 

 to those of iSitari.s, in the nests of bees. 



The Stylopid^ are insects of very abnormal structure and habits, and are reaarded 

 by some naturalists to be a separate ortler, Strepsijitera, and by others are assinned to 

 this position next the Meloidae. The males have rather peculiar form, small, partially 

 rolled up elytra, and very large wings which fold like a fan. Their eyes are large, 



coarsely facetted, and, in Sti/Iops and Xenos, are 

 mounted upon jiedicels. In the adults of both sexes 

 the mouth-jiarts are rudimentary. Prothorax and 

 mesothorax are short; the metathorax is, on the 

 contrary, greatly developed. Sexual dimoriihism is 

 carried to its extreme degree among the Stjdopidre, 

 and although tlie males are capable of locomotion 

 and possess good eyes, the adult females are wing- 

 less, eyeless, and legless parasites, remaining buried 

 between the abdominal segments of wasps, bees, and 

 ants, there enclosed in their pupal-skin which thev 

 never shed, and jmshing out info open air only their anterior end between the seo- 

 ments of their host. Their eggs, which drop directly from the ovaries into the bodv- 

 cavity, develop in the latter place, possibly parthenogenetically at times, although 



Fig. 'inl. — iliAne nnr/usti- 

 coUis. 



Fig. 392. —Xenos pecki : tr. Eljtr.i. 



