THE OIL-BEETLE (MELOE) 93 



the Bee-larvae with their stores of food were still there, 

 but the Meloe-larvae had gone. 



Thus baffled v Newport called to mind that it was 

 Meloe cicatricosus which he had found in Anthophora 

 nests, and that he had experimented with the larvae of 

 two other species. He was, it appears, unable to 

 repeat the experiment with the larvae of cicatricosus, 

 or to discover the true hosts of violaceus and 

 proscarabceus. But he knew perfectly well the next 

 stage of Meloe cicatricosus. This he had found in the 

 closed cells of Anthophora in con- 

 siderable numbers. It is a curved, 

 cylindrical, thick, almost footless 

 grub, motionless and of pale orange 

 colour. The head is small, and the 

 hinder end of the body encumbered 

 with the cast skin of the active 

 larva. He supposed that the active 

 larvae devours the egg of its host, 

 changes its skin, and then feeds FIG. 34 . Second larva 



, , T A i of Oil-beetle (Meloe 



upon the honey. In August, by cicatricosus) magni- 



\. , . . , , ,, . j - fied. After Fabre. 



which time it had greatly increased 

 in size (Newport found advanced larvae f in. long), it 

 changes to a pupa, and the perfect Beetle soon 

 emerges. This hibernates in the same cell, and only 

 emerges in the following spring. The newly emerged 

 Beetles are small and shrunken. But they feed 

 greedily upon the leaves and flowers of the Buttercup 

 or some few other spring flowers, and become plump. 

 The Beetles are fond of sunshine. They drink water 

 plentifully, and in captivity require their food to be 

 frequently wetted. The females are much larger than 



