THE MAY-WORM. 123 



upon the surface of many of the larger insects which 

 commonly frequent flowers, but in most of these cases 

 they appear to have made a slight mistake, as the real 

 purpose of all these insidious manoeuvres is to intro- 

 duce themselves amongst the hairs of some species of 

 bees (especially, as far as our present information 

 goes, those of the genus Anthophora), by which they 

 are then unconsciously conveyed into their nests. 

 This end attained, the larva mercilessly devours the 

 helpless progeny of its host, and becomes, when full 

 grown, a large, black, soft grub, with a scaly head. 

 It passes its larval existence in the earth, in the cells 

 of the Anthophora, and there also undergoes its trans- 

 formation to the pupa state. 



The perfect beetle of our common species, of which 

 the Meloe proscarab&us is one of the most abundant, 

 emerges from its subterraneous habitation in April or 

 May, especially in the latter month, whence the name 

 of May- worm is often applied to it. It is, as already 

 stated, soft, and of a bluish-black colour; its thick 

 clumsy legs are of a shining violet, as are also the 

 first seven joints of the antennae, which form a gra- 

 dually thickened club, the fifth and sixth joints being 

 the largest. The remaining joints are of a dull black- 

 ish tint, and considerably thinner than those which 

 immediately precede them ; and as the seventh joint 

 is attached obliquely to its predecessor, and the eighth 

 is placed obliquely upon it, the whole antenna has a 

 singularly distorted appearance, which is most striking 

 in the males*. The head is rather broader than the 

 prothorax, and is set on it perpendicularly, so that 

 the crown is turned forwards, and the mouth placed 



* This structure of the antennae occurs in some species of the 

 genus Meloe, whilst others have the antennae quite straight. 



G2 



