THE OIL-BEETLE (MELOE) 97 



" So great was the multitude of Meloe larvae that 

 sooner or later almost all *:he Bees of the neighbour- 

 hood must have become infested with them. Though 

 comparatively few larvae had yet gained the flower- 

 heads, and though the Anthophora seldom alights 

 on the ground, where the Meloo larvae were most 

 plentiful, almost all the Bees which I caught and 

 examined had several larvae entangled in the hairs of 

 the thorax. 



" I have also found Meloe larvae on Melectes and 

 Ccelioxys, two Hymenoptera which are parasitic upon 

 Anthophora. Quitting for a moment their bold 

 dartings to and fro in front of the galleries of the Bee, 

 still in process of construction, these thieves of honey 

 stored up for others settle for an instant upon a flower 

 of Chamomile, and then it is the robber who is robbed. 

 A tiny larva creeps upon their downy covering. 

 When the parasite, having destroyed the egg of the 

 Anthophora, comes to lay its own egg on the honey, 

 the Meloe larva lets itself down, destroys the second 

 egg, and remains sole proprietor of the food within 

 the cell. The store of honey laid up by the Antho- 

 phora will thus belong to three owners in turn, and 

 will remain with the weakest of the three. 



" But who can say that the Meloe may not itself 

 be dispossessed by some new thief, or even, while 

 still a soft, fat and sluggish larva, fall a prey to some 

 destroyer, who will devour its living entrails ? As we 

 ponder over the deadly and remorseless strife which 

 nature prescribes to these various creatures, by turns 

 wealthy and destitute, devourers and devoured, a 

 feeling of horror mingles with the admiration excited 



II 



