The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



have rid her of the parasites which she may 

 be carrying, be taken by the wings and held 

 for a moment in contact with the flower, we 

 invariably find her, after this rapid contact, 

 overrun by Meloes clinging to her hairs. 

 The larvae nimbly take up their position on 

 the thorax, usually on the shoulders or sides, 

 and once there they remain motionless: the 

 second stage of their strange journey is com- 

 passed. 



After the Anthophorae, I tried the first 

 live insects that I was able to procure at once : 

 Drone-flies, Bluebottles, Hive-bees, small 

 Butterflies. All were alike overrun by the 

 Meloes, without hesitation. What is more, 

 there was no attempt made to return to the 

 flowers. As I could not find any Beetles at 

 the moment, I was unable to experiment with 

 them. Newport, experimenting, it is true, 

 under conditions very different from mine, 

 since his observations related to young 

 Meloes held captive in a glass jar, while 

 mine were made in the normal circumstances, 

 Newport, I was saying, saw Meloes fasten 

 to the body of a Malachius and stay there 

 without moving, which inclines me to believe 

 that with Beetles I should have obtained the 

 same results as, for instance, with a Drone- 

 fly. And I did, in fact, at a later date, find 



IOO 



