94 HETEttOMERA. [Meloc. 



Linneau Society, vol. xx. ; a figure of the young larva of M. cicatri- 

 cosus is given by Chapuis et Candeze (Larves des Coleopteres, pi. vii. 

 fig. 0), and of this same or another species by Westwood (Classification, 

 i. f. 296, 21) ; I have three of them before me as I write, which 

 were kindly given me by Dr. Sharp, who found a number of them two 

 or three years ago ; they are extremely small, orange-yellow insects, 

 something like a large Ptinella at first sight, elongate and subparallel, 

 with a large head, and with the thoracic segments much longer than the 

 abdominal segments; these latter are widest at the fourth and are very 

 gradually narrowed towards the apex, which is terminated on each sido 

 by two very long hairs which are nearly as long as the abdomen ; the 

 legs are very long (a peculiarity to which the insect owes its great 

 activity), and terminate in a single claw on each side of which there is a 

 slender hook-like process, so that the apex of the legs appears trifid ; 

 this contrivance enables the larva to cling tight to the bee to which it 

 has gained access ; these larvae are slow in their motions when hatched, 

 but soon grow active, and if a hair be presented to them they spring upon 

 it with great rapidity. Mr. Rye has given a good account of the history 

 of the larva (British Beetles, 1st Edition, p. 169), which may with 

 advantage be here quoted ; it is apparently taken from the same source 

 as Thomson's account : " The female of Meloe deposits from two to four 

 separate batches of minute yellow eggs, some thousands at a time, 

 though the number diminishes with each laying. These eggs are glued 

 together, and deposited in small holes in the ground, dug by the parent 

 beetle. After an interval of from three to six weeks the young larvae 

 above described hatch out ; they appear to remain torpid for some time ; 

 but when once roused by sufficient warmth, exhibit extraordinary 

 activity in traversing low plants, chiefly Ranunculaceca or Chicoraceai. 

 From these they attach themselves, often in great numbers, to the hairy 

 covering of bees as they settle on the flowers of their temporary 

 lodgings ; and also, sometimes, to certain hairy Diptera, or two-winged 

 flies, which closely resemble wild bees. In the latter case it is an 

 unfortunate attachment for the larvae, as the Di/jtera make no nest or 

 provision for their offspring, so that the would-be parasite necessarily 

 perishes of starvation ; and it is probably the chance of this, added to 

 the many fortunate contingencies required before the larvae can be safely 

 landed within reach of their food, that causes such an enormous number 

 of eggs to be laid by the parent beetle. When carried by the unconscious 

 bee to its nest, the Meloe larva devours the eggs therein contained, 

 changes (without leaving the cell of the latter) into a second form, not 

 unlike the larva of a Lamellicorn beetle in miniature, being arched, 

 cylindrical, with toothed mandibles and stout legs, and then subsists 

 on the food intended by the bee for its own young. After some time 

 this second form of the larva changes its outer covering, which is not 

 entirely shed, but remains wrinkled together at the hinder apex of its 

 body : it is then arched, distinctly composed of thirteen segments, 



