THE OIL BEETLE. 155 



number of the tiniest imaginable yellow eggs, placing several 

 thousands in each hole. As soon as the eggs are hatched, the 

 larvae make their way into the open air. They are most ex- 

 traordinary creatures, and no one who saw the newly-hatched 

 and the full-grown larva of this Beetle would ever imagine 

 that they could be the same creature, and in the same stage of 

 metamorphosis. They are scarcely so large as the semicolon 

 (;) used in this work, and are long-bodied, furnished with six 

 long and prehensile legs, and gifted with great activity. A 

 magnified figure of one of these larva is shown on Woodcut 

 XV*. Fig. e. As soon as they reach the open air, they climb 

 the stems of flowers and gain the blossoms, where they lie in 

 wait. Presently a bee comes to gather honey or pollen, when 

 the little larva leaves the flower, climbs upon the bee, and 

 clings to its body with its clasping legs. 



The bee, unconscious of its new burden, goes as usual to its 

 nest, when the larva quits its hold, and remains in tlie nest. 

 The parent bee being gone, thinking that everything is right, 

 the Meloe larva' devours the egg, and then throws off its first 

 larval form in order to assume another, in which it some- 

 what resembles the grub of the cockchafer. It now turns its 

 attention to the food prepared by the bee for its young, and 

 finds therein just sufiicient nutriment to carry it through its 

 larval condition. One of these larvae, nearly full-fed, is shown 

 on Plate VI. Fig. 5. The reader will see that it bears not the 

 least resemblance to the long-bodied, quick-legged larva in the 

 first stage of growth. 



To prepare these insects for the cabinet requires some little 

 care and patience, especially with the females, for when the crea- 

 ture dies, the large soft abdomen begins to shrink, and when it 

 is quite dry, the abdomen is not one-third its proper size, is full 

 of wrinkles, and crumpled out of all shape. The only plan, 

 therefore, is to stuff it with cotton wool. The usual mode of 

 so doing is, to cut a slit on the under side, remove the contents 

 of the abdomen, and replace them with cotton wool. I have, 

 however, found this plan scarcely satisfactory, inasmuch as the 

 edges of the slit are apt to recede from each other, so that the 

 cotton wool is visible. There is another plan, certainly in- 

 volving more trouble, but with far better results. With 

 sharp scissors cut off the abdomen altogether, squeeze and draw 



