96 UTILIZATION OF MINUTE LIFE. 



curious that I think they may safely be related 

 here : 



The insects belonging to the two genera, Meloe and 

 Sitaris, together perhaps with the whole tribe, are, 

 in their early stages of life, parasitical insects, living 

 upon the bodies of certain honey -making Hymen- 

 optera. From M. Fabre's account, it appears that 

 their larvce, before arriving at the pupa or chrysalis 

 state, go through no less than four distinct meta- 

 morphoses. The author finds himself obliged to 

 invent new names to designate these newly-dis- 

 covered phases of insect life. He therefore denotes 

 them primitive larva, second larva, pseudo-chrysalis, 

 and third larva. The passage of one of these forms 

 to the other is effected by a simple process of 

 moulting, or throwing off of the outer skin; the 

 viscera remaining unchanged. 



The primitive larva is a hard, crusty little being. 

 It lives on the bodies of Hymenoptera (bees, etc.) 

 until it is transported to the nest and finds itself 

 deposited in the bee-cell. Once there it soon 

 devours the offspring of the Hymenoptera. The 

 second larva, which is developed in the cell, lives 

 upon the honey. It is much softer than the former. 

 The pseudo-chrysalis resembles a piece of hard 

 gutta-percha, it is quite devoid of motion, its sheath 

 is of a hard horny substance, upon which can be 

 observed the rudiments of a head and six small 



