338 NATURAL HISTORY. 



without risk now of being drowned, for all its breathing-holes are situated on the dorsal surface 

 of the abdomen, and the ventral part alone is submerged. Thus it wallows until, having consumed 

 all the honey, it undergoes another change, into what M. Fabre calls a " pseudo-chrysalide," a 

 maggot of peculiar angular form, which remains motionless throughout the winter, and in spring 

 changes its skin and appears as a larva again, completely resembling the form it had in the 

 second stage. But it takes no nourishment, and in a short time changes into a pupa of the 

 ordinary Coleopterous type, from which the winged adult Sitaris emerges at the end of a month. 

 The whole series of wonderful changes occupies two years. 



The other species of parasitic Meloidae that have been observed have analogous, but in some 

 points different, transformations and habits. Thus the species of Meloe, or Oil-beetle of which 

 one or two are common in spring on hedge-banks in many parts of England, and are recognisable 

 by their short wing-cases, blue-black colour, voluminous abdomen, and greasy appearance lay their 

 eggs in holes in the ground previously excavated, and the larvae, when hatched, attach themselves 

 to Bees of various species. The only Bees 011 which they can profitably settle are such as 

 make a provision of pollen-paste ; and the active six-footed larva of the parasite, on completing 

 its growth, changes into a fleshy cylindrical grub, with less aborted legs and stronger jaws than 

 the corresponding stage of Sitaris. The parent Meloe lays an immense number of eggs, in little 

 agglutinated masses and in many different holes, and the newly-hatched larvae, climbing the stems 

 of flowering plants, attach themselves with so little discrimination to any living hairy insect 

 Diptera or useless Hymenoptera that large numbers perish by failing, through their faulty instinct, 

 to be conveyed to cells where a store of pabulum is provided. 



Certain genera of this family, more nearly allied to the Blister-beetle (Cantkaris vesicatoria), and 

 most probably some of the true Cantharides themselves, are parasitic on the eggs of Grasshoppers or 

 Locusts, which it must be remembered are laid in masses enclosed in a cocoon-shaped envelope, aptly 

 termed " egg-pod." The discovery of this singular variety of parasitism is due to Mr. C. V. Riley. 

 who followed up the first indications he met with by a most complete series of observations on 

 numerous species, both of Blister-beetles and Locusts, in the United States. The Beetles were, the 

 Epicauta cinerea, pennsylvanica, vittata, and maryinata, and the Macrobasis unicolor, Blister-beetles 

 which, in their adult states, feed on the leaves of the potato. Their prey was the Rocky Mountain 

 Locust (Caloptenus spretus) and other Grasshoppers of the same genus. He found that the parent Beetles 

 lay their eggs, like the Meloe, in holes which they scratch in the ground, preferring the same warm 

 sunny localities as the Locusts. The larvae, in their first stage, somewhat resemble those of Sitaris, 

 but are larger, more spiny, and have more powerful head and jaws and longer legs ; strength and 

 activity, in fact, are necessary to the creatures, who have to prowl about often for many days before 

 finding the eggs which are to constitute their food. An egg-pod found, they precipitate themselves 

 upon it with the utmost eagerness, fighting amongst themselves to the death for its exclusive possession, 

 and gnawing their way through the shell to the contents. On becoming full-fed, about the eighth day, 

 the active larva changes its skin, coming forth as a soft grub, with short legs. In this state it naturally 

 lies in a curved position, but is active, and goes on feeding for about another week, when a second 

 moult takes place, and it emerges as a more obese grub, with rudimentary legs, which is not materially 

 modified a few days afterwards, when a third moult supervenes. In this last stage it grows apace, 

 feeding continually on the rich juices of the Locust eggs, until at the end of another week it leaves 

 its pabulum and burrows at some little distance in the clean soil, where it undergoes a transformation 

 into the " pseudo-chrysalide " stage, in which the parts of the mouth become quite rudimentary, and no 

 nourishment is taken. The insect generally hibernates in this stage, changing its skin in the spring, 

 and coming forth again as an active larva, but only to burrow about in the ground, not to feed, and in 

 the course of a few days changing into the true pupa, whence in a few days more the perfect Beetle 

 emerges. 



A further modification in the parasitism of this singular group is seen in Rhipiphorus paradoxus. 

 a British species, whose life-history has been traced with great patience and acumen by Dr. Algernon 

 Chapman. This insect feeds on the grub or larva of the Wasp. The mother Rhipiphorus lays her 

 eggs in the cells of the Wasp, and the larva, on its emergence as a black active hexapod, similar to the 

 first stage of Meloe larvae, eats its way into the nearly full-grown grub of the Wasp, and feeds for some 



