MELOID^E. 477 



PYROCHROID^ Latreille. A small group of beetles which 

 are found under the bark of trees ; they generally have a red- 

 dish thorax contrasting with the black head and elytra. "The 

 branches of the pectinate male antennae are rigid in Pyrochroa, 

 and very slender and flexible in Dendroides; in Schizotus they 

 are of an intermediate form,, and somewhat flexible." (Le- 

 conte.) The larva of Dendroides is a very flat whitish grub, 

 with two large curved spines on the tail; it lives 

 under the bark of pines and other trees. Two species 

 of this genus, D. concolor Newman and D. Canadensis 

 Latr., are equally common in New England. Fig. 

 446, enlarged, represents the larva of a species of 

 Pyrochroa, of which P. flabellata Fabr. is a type. 



MELOID^E Gyllenhal. This is a family of great in- 

 terest from the parasitic habits of the larvae, which dif- 

 fer remarkably from the adult forms. The head is 

 much bent forwards, and is suddenly constricted far Fi &- 446< 

 behind the eyes into a small neck ; the eleven-jointed antennae 

 are inserted at the sides of the front, before the eyes ; the 

 elytra are variable in form, but when abnormally shortened, 

 are ovate, rather than square at the tip, and the hind wings are 

 often absent. The legs are long, the hind tarsi are four- 

 jointed, the penultimate joint usually cylindrical. They are 

 soft-bodied, cylindrical, slender beetles, and are always found 

 on flowers. The larvae are ovate, flattened, often very minute 

 and then somewhat resembling the Pediculi in habits. Meloe 

 is a large dark blue beetle found about buttercups and crawl- 

 ing on grass in May and again late in August. The elytra are 

 small and short, overlapping each other on the large ovate 

 full abdomen ; the claws are cleft, the male antennae are 

 twisted and knotted. The eggs are laid in the ground, prob- 

 ably near the nests of bees, for in the early spring, the young 

 larvae recently hatched are found on the bodies of various 

 bees, such as Bombus, Halictus and Andrena, and also various 

 Syrphi and Muscae frequenting the flowers of the willow in 

 April, whence they are conveyed by the agency of the bees. 

 On these flowers we have found them in abundance. They are 

 very active in their habits, and difficult to rear in confinement, 



