COLEOPTERA. CANTIIARID^. 303 



known relative to this insect, in his 3Iemoir upon Halictus, p. 83. and 

 fig. 1. f. ; and his observations upon the constant uniformity and 

 minuteness of size of this supposed larva, which nobody had ever 

 seen either grow or undergo any metamorphosis, seem to warrant the 

 opinion that it cannot be the larva of the Meloe. Latreillc, indeed, 

 suggests that these larvte mount upon the bodies of the bees, in order 

 to be carried by them into their nests under ground^ where they 

 feed upon the food laid up in store for the bees' young, which 

 opinion is also adopted by Erichson and Brandt ; but all these 

 authors neglect the fact, that the larvce are found upon Syrphidas 

 and Muscidaj, as well as upon bees ; as well as the express state- 

 ment of Geoffroy, that the larva of the Meloe " ressemble beaucoup 

 a I'animal parfait. EUe est de meme couleur, grosse, lourde, n'ayant 

 que la tete ecailleuse, et tout le reste du corps mol. On la trouve 

 enfoncee dans la terre, ou elle fait sa metamorphose" (Hist. Abreg. 

 Ins. Paris, i. 377.), — a statement confirmed to me (as regards the 

 full-grown larva,) by G. Newport, Esq., Avho has made a valuable series 

 of observations on this insect. Swammerdam, also, treats Goedart's state- 

 ment as improbable : moreover, the extreme agility of this larva is quite 

 at variance with the character of the imago ; and it is to be observed, 

 that in this respect there is in general an agreement between the larva 

 and imago. I shall only add, that although the mouth of these larvae 

 (as I have shown in detail in a Memoir read before the Entomo- 

 logical Society, and as represented in figures 34. 22. and 23.) is 

 mandibulated, it is quite unlike that of any other larva with which 

 I am acquainted, and that the mouth of many of the Anoplura are 

 also mandibulated. (See also Bull, des Sc. Nat. Scptemb. 1828.) 



Among the exotic genera, are especially to be noticed Gnathium 

 and Nemognatha, in which the maxillte of the males arc terminated 

 by a long and slender pilose filament like the tongue of a bee and 

 Cerocoma, which have the antenna; 9-jointed, the joints in the 

 male being irregularly produced into various sized lobes, and those 

 of the female being simple ; in both sexes the terminal joint is large, 

 and probably consists of three joints soldered together. 



