:,<; Till- LIFE-STORY OF INSECTS [CH. 



in leaves or seeds, or tunnelling beneath the bark of 

 trees, have no legs at all, the place of these limbs 

 lcinir indieated only by tiny tubercles on the thoracic 

 M -UK nts. Such larvae as these latter are examples <t 

 the type called cruciform by A. S. Packard(1898) who 

 ;i- \\ell as other writers has laid stress on the series 

 of transitional steps from the campodeiform to 

 the cruciform type afforded by the larvae of the 

 Coleoptera. 



A fact of much importance in the transformations 

 of beetles as pointed out by Brauer (1869) is that in 

 a tew families, the first larval instar is campodeiform, 

 while the subsequent instars are cruciform. We may 

 take as an example of such 'hypermetamorphosis' 

 the life-story of the Oil or Blister-beetles (Meloidae) 

 as first described by J. H. Fabre (1857), and later 

 with more elaboration by H. Beauregard (1890). 

 From the egg of one of these beetles is hatched a 

 minute armoured larva, with long feelers, legs, and 

 cerci, whose task is, for example, to seize hold of a bee 

 in order that the latter may carry it, an uninvited 

 guest, to her nest. Safely within the nest, the little 

 'triungulin' beetle-grub moults; the second instar 

 has a soft cuticle and relatively shorter legs, which, 

 as the larva, now living as a cuckoo-parasite, proceeds 

 to gorge itself with honey, soon appear still further 

 abbreviated. Later comes a stage during which legs 

 are entirely wanting, the larva then resting and 



