132 BLAPS. CANTHARIS. 



low and dark parts of buildings, such as cellars, stables, &c. 

 The insects of this tribe are very tenacious of life ; individuals 

 having been known to remain alive for six months without food, 

 and pierced through with a pin. To this family belong the 

 Blaps mortisaga, a beetle often found in dark and dirty places 

 about houses ; and the Tenebrio molifor, of which the larva, 

 known under the name of the meal-worm, lives in corn and flour, 

 whilst the perfect insect also frequents bake-houses, corn-mills, 

 &c., where it may be often found in the eaves. 



714. The TRACHELIA (wecfod-beetles), 

 are so named from having the head, which 

 is triangular or heart-shaped, carried on a 

 kind of neck, which separates it from the 

 thorax. The body is soft ; and the elytra 

 are flexible, and sometimes very soft. The 

 majority of this group live in the perfect 

 state upon different vegetables, devouring 

 the leaves, or sucking the juices of the 

 flowers. Many of them, when seized, de- 

 press the head and contract the feet, as if riG - 



VESICATOHIA. 



they were dead. Their colours are often very 



brilliant. This is well seen in the Cantharis vesicatoria, commonly 

 known as the Blistering-fly, which is of a shining green metal- 

 lic hue ; this insect is most abundant in Spain, but appears 

 about midsummer in France, and is found in great numbers on 

 the ash and lilac, of which it consumes the leaves. The most 

 abundant British species of the group belong to the genus Meloe, 

 some of which are well known under the name of May-worms, 

 from their generally making their appearance on fine days in 

 the month of May. They are soft, sluggish creatures, usually 

 of a violet black colour, with short elytra, which wrap over each 

 other at the base, and cover no wings. They are found princi- 

 pally in meadows and on sandy heaths, where they crawl about 

 upon the herbage or visit the flowers. Their larvaB, which are 

 hatched from a mass of eggs laid by the female in a small hole 

 in the ground, are minute active creatures, furnished with six 

 well-formed legs ; they quickly find their way into flowers, ex- 

 hibiting a great predilection for the common Buttercup. Here 



