THE HETEROMERA. 169 



fore, be stuffed with wool, an easy operation, if an in- 

 cision be made in the lower side of the body, and its 

 contents taken out. The males are often very small ; 

 and, in some cases, have the sixth and seventh joints of 

 the antennae enlarged and suddenly bent, so that the 

 apex appears deformed. 



The transformations of these insects are, perhaps, the 

 most wonderful of any that are yet known to us ; and it 

 is chiefly on account of somewhat similar habits in their 

 earlier stages that the Stylopidce have been recently con- 

 sidered as coleopterous. 



The female of Meloe deposits from two to four sepa- 

 rate batches of minute yellow eggs, some thousands at a 

 time, though the number diminishes with each laying. 

 These eggs are glued together, and deposited in small 

 holes in the ground, dug by the parent beetle. After 

 an interval of from three to six weeks, according to the 

 temperature, the young larvse are hatched, and are ex- 

 tremely like minute pediculi, or bird-lice, being yellow, 

 elongate, parallel, flattened, with rather long legs, and 

 four long hairs at the apex of the last segment. They 

 appear to remain torpid for some time; but, when once 

 roused by sufficient warmth, exhibit extraordinary acti- 

 vity in traversing low plants, chiefly Ranunculacece or 

 Chicoracece. From these they attach themselves, often 

 in great numbers, to the hairy covering of bees as they 

 settle on the flowers of their temporary lodgings ; and 

 also, sometimes, to certain hairy Diptera, or two- winged 

 flies, which closely resemble wild bees. In the latter 

 case it is an unfortunate attachment for the larvse; as 

 the Diptera make no nest or provision for their offspring, 

 so that the would-be parasite necessarily perishes of 

 starvation : and it is probably the chance of this, added 



