Hypermetamorphosis 



future. The larva of the Meloidae, there- 

 fore, undergo four moults before attaining 

 the nymphal state; and after each moult 

 their characteristics alter most profoundly. 

 During all these external changes, the in- 

 ternal organization remains unchangingly the 

 same; and it is only at the moment of the 

 nymph's appearance that the nervous system 

 becomes concentrated and that the reproduct- 

 ive organs are developed, absolutely as in 

 the other Beetles. 



Thus, to the ordinary metamorphoses 

 which make a Beetle pass successively 

 through the stages of larva, nymph and per- 

 fect insect, the Meloidae add others which 

 repeatedly transform the larva's exterior, 

 without introducing any modification of its 

 viscera. This mode of development, which 

 preludes the customary entomological forms 

 by the multiple transfigurations of the larva, 

 certainly deserves a special name: I sug- 

 gest that of hypermetamorphosis. 



Let us now recapitulate the more promi- 

 nent facts of this essay. 



The Sitares, the Meloes, the Zonites and 

 apparently other Meloidae, possibly all of 

 them, are in their earliest infancy parasites 

 of the harvesting Bees. 



The larva of the Meloidae, before reach- 

 141 



