THE OIL-BEETLE (MELOE) 



It is easy enough to go so far, and to obtain small 

 active larvae from the eggs of Meloe. We should at 

 first be inclined to suspect that these larvae would 

 seek their food in the ground, grow big, pupate, and 

 change to perfect Beetles. But this does not happen. 

 If the larvae are imprisoned, even though they may 

 be supplied with food of any imaginable description, 

 they soon perish. If they are kept warm and 

 exposed to light, they run about busily, seeking to 

 escape ; if they are kept in the 

 dark, they remain still. In 

 either case, they perish in two 

 or three weeks. 



It had been noticed before 

 Newport's time that such 

 larvae were occasionally to be 

 found clustered on grass, or on 

 the flowers of Buttercup and 

 Dandelion. The same or very 

 similar larvae had been found 

 clinging to the hairs of various 

 Bees and Flies, and Latreille 

 had thought it probable that 

 they attached themselves to 

 flower-visiting Bees, and were 

 conveyed to the nest, which at 

 this time of the year is being 

 stored with pollen and honey. 



Newport placed a burrowing Bee in a bottle which con- 

 tained a brood of these larvae. They instantly seized 

 any part of the Bee which came within reach, leg, wing, 

 or hairs, and mounted in crowds upon the body, causing 



FIG. 33. First larva of Oil- 

 beetle, magnified. After 

 Newport 



