r?tEE MESSxMATES. 



13 



The females of the Meloe lay then- eggs near the 

 ranunculus and other plants whose flowers are regularly 

 visited by bees. After these are hatched, the larv^ 

 ascend into the flowers and wait patiently till a bee takes 

 them on his back, and carries them into the mterior 

 of the hive. This insect was formerly known under 

 the name of the bee-louse, but this appellation is im- 

 proper, for the bee is not the host of the meloe, but simply 

 its beast of burden. According to recent observations, 

 flies perform the same ofdce for Chelifers, and certain 

 aciuatic and land coleoptera for several kinds of acaridae. 

 In the class of animal messmates we find also a 

 coleopterous insect that lodges in a manner similar to 

 the pa^uri, of which we shall presently speak. The 

 female "of the Drilus, a species alUed to glowworms, 

 attacks the snail, and when it has devoured it, instals 

 itself in the shell, to pass through its metamorphoses ; 

 when necessary, it fi-equently changes its shell and chooses 

 successively more spacious lodgings. Like a true 

 Sybarite, the drilus weaves a curtain of tapestry before 

 the entrance of its habitation, and remains there peace- 

 ably surrounded by the vestment of its youth. 



Eemarkable examples of free messmates are found 

 more especially among crustaceans. It is well known 

 that this class includes lobsters, crabs, praams, and those 

 legions of small animals which serve as the police of the 

 sel-shore, purifying the waters of the ocean of all or- 

 ganic matters, which otherwise would corrupt them. 

 They do not, like insects, shine with variegated colom-s ; 

 their forms are hardy and varied, and they are often 

 pleasmg on account of the singularity of their move- 

 ments. Professor Yerrill has recently studied some of 



