98 HETEROMERA. [Meloe. 



Grassy banks, &c. ; in the vicinity of nests of Anthophora ; very rare; Southend 

 (Smith and Gorhaui) ; Prittlewell, Essex (Power) ; meadows near Margate (Stephens); 

 Broadstairs (T. Wood) ; Tavistock and Exmouth, Devon (Stephens) ; a specimen 

 was some years ago brought to a friend of mine from a southern locality by one of his 

 clerks, who said that it was abundaut in the place in which he discovered it ; as he 

 was not a Coleopterist he only brought back one specimen ; the species like M. cicatri- 

 cosus is probably gregarious. 



IftX. brevicollis, Panz. A very distinct species, short, broad and 

 convex, black blue, or dark-blue, or nigro- violaceous, glabrous and rather 

 shining ; head large, rather deeply and diffusely punctured, antennae 

 short and stout, thickened towards apex, with joints 4-8 transverse; 

 thorax very short, much smaller than head, strongly transverse, with 

 sides and angles rounded, diffusely punctured, strongly depressed towards 

 base, which is broadly emarginate, disc with a fine central furrow ; 

 elytra coarsely, rugosely and rather shallowly sculptured ; abdomen very 

 finely rugose ; legs rather stout, blue black. L. 10-20 mm. 



Sandy heaths; very rare; Dartford (Spiers); Ockham Heath, near Ripley 

 (Surrey); Cliristchurch, Tavistock, and Windsor (Stephens); Frensham, near 

 Boundstone (Surrey), in May, Reigate Heath, Favershum, Plymouth and Cornwall 

 (Power); Chobham (Saunders) ; Wey mouth (Harris) ; Glanvilles Wootton (Dale) ; 

 Plymouth (Bignell). 



SITARIS. Latreille. 



This genus contains thirteen species, which, with one exception, are 

 found in Europe ; one occurs in Algeria ; the following are their chief 

 characteristics : head large, antennae rather short and stout and gradually 

 thickened towards apex, inserted before eyes ; behind the eyes, which 

 are transverse and slightly emarginate, the head is a little dilated and 

 then suddenly constricted ; thorax narrower than elytra ; scutellum large ; 

 elytra broad at base, but becoming rapidly narrow and attenuated, 

 strongly divaricate and disclosing the wings which are ample ; legs 

 moderately long. 



The transformations of this genus are very interesting, and have been 

 carefully worked out in the case of S. muralis by M. Fabre (Ann. des 

 Sci. Nat. ser. 4, tome vii.) ; his figures and the chief part of his de- 

 scription will be found in Sir John Lubbock's work on " the Origin and 

 Metamorphoses of Insects," (Nature Series, 1874) pp. 30-33; the 

 changes appear to be much the same as in the case of Meloe ; the 

 small larva, which, in its active state, has to fasten itself upon the bee, 

 of which the insect is a parasite, differs very considerably from the small 

 Meloe larva, being shaped like an elongate peg-top, with the greatest 

 width at the metathoracic segment ; the head is large and subquadrate, 

 and the antennse, which are very short in Meloe, are very long and slender ; 

 the apex of the body is terminated by two long and fine setas ; the legs are 

 shorter than in the larva of Meloe, but are evidently formed on the same 

 analogy, their inner side being set with strong setae, and each of the 

 femora bearing a fine seta, which is almost as long as the femur and 



