M E L I A N T H U S M E L O E. 



231 



some of the species is poisonous, but the bark of 

 several is employed medicinally in countries where 

 the plants are found wild. The order contains the 

 following 1 genera, viz., Turraw, Quivisio, Sandoricum, 

 ~Melin, Tncldlia, Ekebergia, Guarea, Heynea, Cedrcla, 

 Swicfcnifi, Chloroxylvn, Flindersia, Carapa, and 

 Walhura. 



MELI \NTHUS (Linnaeus). A genus of ever- 

 green shrubs, natives of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 The flowers are didynamous, and are ranged in the 

 order Rutacece. They are common in every green- 

 house, easy of cultivation, and readily propagated by 

 cuttings. 



MELICA (Linnaeus). A genus of grasses, two of 

 which are natives of Britain, where they are called 

 melic-g-tas. They are not economical plants. 



MELICHRUS(R. Brown). A pretty genus of 

 evergreen shrubs from New Holland. The flowers 

 are pentandrous, and belong to the natural order 

 EpacridecB. They thrive in loam, sand, and moor- 

 earth mixed, and cuttings of the young shoots strike 

 root readily. 



MELICOCCA (Linnaeus). A genus of tropical 

 fruit-trees called in this country honey-berries. The 

 flowers are octandrous, and the plants belong to 

 SapindaccfE. The fruit is almost black, but very 

 sweet and pleasant. They succeed very well under 

 ordinary stove management. 



MELILOTUS (Tournefort). A genus of annual, 

 biennial and perennial herbs belonging to the Legu- 

 miiwsee. The melilots are very similar to the clovers, 

 with which they were once generically combined. 

 M. officinalis was formerly used as a medicine, as an 

 ingredient in plaisters, poultices, and emollient fomen- 

 tations. It has a strong smell and bitter taste ; but 

 notwithstanding both, some cattle are fond of it. 

 The celebrated Gruyere cheese owes its peculiar 

 flavour to the seeds and flowers of this plant. The 

 Bowers are much resorted to by bees, and hence it 

 has been called the honey-lotus. 



MELISSA (Linnaeus). A genus of well-known 

 garden herbs, commonly called balm, of which there 

 are five species. They belong to the natural order 

 Labiate, 



MELITTA (Kirby). Under this name Mr. Kirby, 

 in his invaluable Monograph on the English Bees, 

 separated those species which have the lower lip, 

 or tongue, as it is called, very short, and which have 

 subsequently been formed into the family Andrenidae, 

 (which see.) 



MELITTIS (Linnaeus). A genus of plants called 

 bastard-balm, found plentifully in British woods. It 

 also belongs to Labiatce. 



MELLIF ERA Honey-collectors (Latreille). A 

 sub-section of aculeate hymenopterous insects, cor- 

 responding with the Linnaean genus A/ris (see the 

 articles BJEB, APID^E, HYMENOPTERA, &c.), divi>ible 

 into the two families Andrenidce (Melitta, Kirby), 

 and Apidcc (Apis, Kirby). 



MKLOCACTUS. Is the Cactus Melocactus of 

 Linngeus, commonly called the turk's-cap or meloa 

 thistle. 



MELOCHIA (Linnaeus). A genus of tropical 

 undershrubs, bearing monadelphous flowers, and be- 

 longing to the natural order Bi/tlncriacete. They 

 are stove plants, and easily propagated by cuttings. 



MELOE (Linnaeus). A genus of coleopterous in- 

 sects belonging to the section Heteromera and family 

 Cantharidte, having the body large and distended, 



the wings entirely wanting, and the elytra short, oval, 

 and folding partially over each other at the base ; 

 the antennas are eleven-jointed, of nearly equal thick- 

 ness throughout, or dilated and singularly knotted 

 or elbowed in the centre, especially in the males. 

 These insects are of a comparatively large size ; they 

 are very inactive, crawling on the ground or amongst 

 low herbage, upon which they feed ; they emit an 

 oleaginous liquid from the joints of the limbs, when 

 disturbed, of a yellow colour and disagreeable odour. 

 They are found in spring, and some of the species, 

 especially the type Meloc proscarabceus, are sufficiently 

 common. They possess in some degree the vesica- 

 tory powers of the Cantharides, and are indeed em- 

 ployed in some parts of Spain in lieu of the real 

 blister fly. From this circumstance Latreille has con- 

 jectured that they were identical with the ancient 

 Buprestis ; but this can scarcely be, as they do not 

 agree with the description of that insect, which is 

 said to have resembled a wasp. The early history 

 of these insects has been the subject of much discus- 

 sion amongst naturalists, and may be cited as an ex- 

 ample of the comparatively great extent of our igno- 

 rance of the real history of these tribes, and with the 

 hopes of inciting persons who feel an interest in en- 

 tomology to look at insects with a different eye than 

 that of mere collectors. According to Gcedart and 

 De Geer, the female meloe digs into the earth, and 

 there deposits a mass of yellow eggs, from which, in 

 due time, the larva: are excluded, which are described 

 as having six legs, two antenna;, and two long threads 

 at the extremity of the body. These larvas have 

 never been observed above one eighth of an inch in 

 length, and the most curious portion of their history 

 is, that they fasten themselves upon the bodies of" 

 bees and flies, and suck their juices. Kirby and 

 Leon Dufour, however, regarded these supposed 

 larvae as apterous insects, belonging to the order 

 Parasila or Anojilura, the former naming them Pedl- 

 cu/us Meiittarum, and the latter even establishing a 

 distinct apterous genus for their reception, Triungur 

 lirius. Since this period, however, several observers 

 have endeavoured to solve the difficulty, the most 

 recent being Mr. E. Doubleday, from whose pleasant 

 paper in the Entomological Magazine the following 

 quotation is derived : " It is but rarely that we see 

 a meloe in this neighbourhood (Colchester), but after 

 diligent search, I found a few Proscarabczi of both 

 sexes. These I placed on som,e light earth, under a 

 bell glass, giving them plenty of ranunculus leaves to 

 feed upon. The females, in particular, fed well, and 

 grew wonderfully large in the abdomen ; therefore I 

 felt sure that I should soon have lots of good eggs, 

 and then of course lots of larvae, which would not 

 be mere Acarida; (Pediculida:}, but bond fide young 

 meloes. One morning I found that something par- 

 ticular was going on amongst them. The old ladies,, 

 no doubt with much exertion, had scooped out places 

 in the earth wherein to bury their eggs, and soon 

 after a lump of bright orange eggs, about the size of 

 a Palma Christi seed, was deposited in each, and care- 

 fully covered over. This was just what I had ex- 

 pected from what I had read about this matter. I now 

 set the mould aside, keeping it a little moist, and 

 covered up so that nothing could get at it. Thus it 

 remained for about two months, when out sallied a 

 host of little animals of a light brown colour, having, 

 as near as may be, the shape of Kirby's figure in the 

 Mon. Apum, which ran about the glass as swift as a 



