498 THE INSECT WORLD. 



with eggs. They are generally observed in spring. In Germany 

 they give them the name of Mamurm (May worm). Their succu- 

 lence would expose them without doubt to the voracity of birds, 

 and of insect-eating Mammifers, if they had not the power of 

 exuding at will, in the moment of danger, from all their articula- 

 tions, an unctuous humour, of a reddish-yellow colour, the 

 odour, and probably also the caustic properties, of which repel the 

 aggressor. The females lay their eggs underground, and out of 

 theso come forth larvae of a strange shape. Swallowed by cattle, 

 they cause them to swell and die. It is for this reason that 

 Latreille has given it as his opinion that tbese insects are the 

 Buprestis of the ancients, of which the law of Cornelius speaks, 

 "Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis." But the name of 

 Buprestis was applied by Linnaeus to a genus of which we shall 

 treat farther on, and it has been generally adopted by naturalists. 



The commonest among the Meloes is the Meloe proscarabteus, 

 which is to be found in abundance, in the month of April, in the 

 meadows near the bridge of Ivry, in the environs of Paris. The 

 metamorphoses of the insects of this family had remained for a 

 long time surrounded with an impenetrable veil of mystery, but the 

 researches of Newport in England, and of M. Fabre (of Avignon) 

 in France, have made known, in our days, phases, extremely 

 curious, under which are accomplished the metamorphoses of 

 the Sitaris humeralis, a species which belongs to the same family.* 

 These observations, of which we are about to give a rapid sum- 

 mary, will probably help towards unravelling the first states of 

 Cantharis. 



The Sitaris kumeralis (Fig. 543) takes no nourishment when 

 arrived at the perfect state. When the female has been im- 

 pregnated, she lays at the entrance of the nest of a solitary 

 bee from two to three thousand very small whitish eggs, stuck 

 together in shapeless masses. A month afterwards there come 

 out of these eggs very small larvae, of a shiny dark green, 

 hard skinned, armed with strong jaws, and long legs and antennae 

 (Fig. 544). These are the first larvae. They remain motion- 

 less and without taking food till the following spring. At 

 this period are hatched the male bees, which precede the appear- 



* Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 18.57, 4 e serie, tome vii., p. 300. 



