442 SYNOPTIC COLLECTION. 



The young of Meloe (No. 1117), a common genus in 

 Massachusetts, eat the eggs of the bee (Anthophora) to 

 which they are borne by clinging to the hairy body of the 

 mother. The second larva feeds upon the honey in the 

 cells intended for the larval bee. The coarctate stage 

 gives rise to an active fourth (usually called the third) 

 larval form which eats its way out of the cell and becomes 

 a pupa from which the dark blue beetle emerges. The 

 latter has small elytra and no wings, while another mem- 

 ber of this family, Hornia minutipennis Riley, is without 

 wings in both the male and female and practically with- 

 out elytra as these are extremely small. 



One of the members of this family, Nemognatha (No. 

 1118), is of especial interest since its mouth parts are 

 similar to those of the Lepidoptera. The two maxillae 

 are long and hollowed out on the inner side so that, 

 when pressed together, they form a sucking tube for 

 obtaining the sweet juices of flowers. 



Specialization by reduction is carried further in the 

 Stylopidae than in the Meloidae, since the larvae which 

 are at first active Hexapod insects finally become footless 

 grubs, while the adult female Stylops is little more than a 

 bag-like creature without legs or wings. PI. 1119, fig. 

 i, represents the young active larva of Stylops childreni 

 Westw. The adult male Stylops (fig. 2; fig. 3, side view; 

 PL 1 1 20, enlarged more than fig. 2 of PI. 1119) is unique 

 among insects, since it possesses a pair of club-shaped 

 organs on the mesothorax which resemble the metatho- 

 racic halteres of the most specialized group of insects, the 

 Diptera. The wings are large and fan-shaped. The 

 female Stylops is parasitic in the abdomen of bees (PI. 

 1119, fig. 4, dotted line shows its body in natural posi- 

 tion ; fig. 5, taken from abdomen). It is without com- 

 pound eyes, legs, or wings, and is viviparous. 



We now come to those Coleoptera which have skipped 

 the Thysanuriform larval stage and also the active grub 

 stage, and which at the start have only the vestiges of 

 thoracic feet or are wholly without these organs. 



