3H2 



THE JOINTED ANIMALS 



it differs from B, mortisaga, which also occurs, though rarely, in this country, in 

 having shorter points to the elytra. Of the genus Tenebrio two species occur in 

 Britain, one of which ( T. molitor) is almost cosmopolitan in its range, having been 

 carried in flour to nearly every part of the world. The larvse, 

 known as meal worms, are long and narrow, of a light yel- 

 lowish-red color, with the integument hard, and the last seg- 

 ment conical in shape and ending into two slightly-diverging 

 processes, armed each with a small black spine. 



The Rhipidophoridce are a small but interesting family 

 of beetles in which the wings are always more or less exposed, 

 THE COMMON MEAT, and not folded transversely as in most other groups, while the 



WORM AND ITS e i ytra are e i t h e r very short (as in the genera Rhipidophorus 

 I.ARVA (enlarged). 



and Rhipidius), or else triangular in form, meeting only at the 



base and diverging from one another behind. 



The Meloidce are chiefly distinguished from the other Heteromera by having 

 the head abruptly constricted behind in the form of a short neck, the coxae of the 

 anterior and middle legs long and prominent, and placed close to one another in 

 the middle line, and the claws of the tarsi accompanied each by a slender hook, so 

 that they appear double. Many of the species possess vesicating or blistering 

 properties, and the family is for this reason sometimes known as the Vesicantia. 



Oil, BEETLES AND 



(Natural size.) 



The larvse are interesting on account of their habits and the changes of form they 

 undergo in the course of their development. These changes are well illustrated in 

 the case of the oil beetles (Meloe). The larvae of these when first hatched from the 

 egg are active little creatures furnished with six legs. They climb on to flowers, 

 and wait in readiness to fasten themselves to the hairs of bees coming to gather the 

 honey. In this way they get carried to the nest, where they devour the eggs of the 

 bee. They now cast their skin, appear as little, maggot-like grubs, with much re- 

 duced legs, and feed on the honey intended by the bee for its own young. After a 



