THE OIL-BEETLE (MELOE) 89 



There are other questions about catkins which I do 

 not propose to my readers because I have found them 

 so far insoluble. Insoluble questions are plenty as 

 blackberries ; the art of the investigator of nature is 

 to put questions which have some chance of getting 

 answered. 



THE OIL-BEETLE (MELOE). 



A few days ago (April 2) I came across a female 

 Oil-beetle (Meloe) walking on a bank in the sun, and 

 seeking for a place in which to deposit the multitude 

 of eggs which distended her enormous abdomen. 

 She at last chose a grassy place and began to dig. 

 When she had made a hole large enough to contain 

 her body, she turned round and pushed her abdomen 

 into the hole. Here she remained quite still for a 

 long time, her head being just visible. I marked the 

 place, came home, and spent an hour or more in 

 reading Newport's history of the Oil-beetle. 1 



When I came back the Meloe was gone and the 

 hole was closed with earth. It was easy to dig out 

 the cluster of eggs, which were very numerous (New- 

 port says 3,000-4,000 in the first laying), very minute, 

 of an orange-yellow colour, adhering together and 

 lying all one way. Following Newport's example, I 

 placed the eggs in a box filled with earth, and awaited 

 the appearance of the larvae, which emerged on May 

 8th (five weeks). Newport's observations on a 

 captive Meloe teach us that the abdomen re-fills with 



1 Linn. Trans., Vol. XX. pp. 297-357, PI. XIV. (1851) ; Vol. 

 XXI. pp. 167-183, PI. XX. (1853). 



