THE OIL-BEETLE (MELOE) 99 



head downwards. One might suppose that they were 

 sucking nectar, but if that were their aim, they would 

 move about from one floret to another, which does 

 not happen, except when they seek the most advan- 

 tageous position after a false alarm. The florets are 

 a mere lurking-place, and they will eat nothing until 

 their jaws crush the egg of an Anthophora. 



" Let us gently explore a Chamomile flower with a 

 straw. The larvae quit their retreats, and run out along 

 the white ray-flowers. When they gain the extreme 

 tip, they attach themselves by the appendages of the 

 tail, or perhaps by means of a viscid secretion, such 

 as the Sitaris larvae possess. With the body extended 

 in free air and the legs free, they sway about in all 

 directions, as if bent upon reaching some object out 

 of easy reach. If nothing approaches which they 

 can grasp, they by and by return to the centre of the 

 flower, and become motionless once more. 



" If we bring any object within their reach, they 

 attach themselves with extraordinary quickness. A 

 blade of grass, a straw, the arm of a forceps 

 anything will do, so eager are they to quit their 

 retreat. But they soon find out when they have made 

 a mistake, and run up and down, trying to get back- 

 to the flower, if it is still possible. After having once 

 grasped a straw, they will not, if replaced on the 

 flower, be entrapped a second time so easily. 



" I tried little bits of cloth or velvet, torn off my 

 clothes, as resembling more or less the hairy covering 

 of a Hymenopterous Insect, plugs of cotton-wool, 

 and flocky pellets stripped off the Cudweed. Any of 

 these the larvae clutched at, but instead of remaining 



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