The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



The same Mason-bee (Anthophora pili- 

 pes) upon whom the Sitares live also feeds 

 a few scarce Meloes (M. cicatricosus} in its 

 cells. A second Anthophora of my district 

 (A. parietina] is more subject to this para- 

 site's invasions. It was also in the nests of 

 an Anthophora, but of a different species 

 (A. retusa], that Newport observed the 

 same Oil-beetle. These three lodgings 

 adopted by Meloe cicatricosus may be of 

 some slight interest, as leading us to suspect 

 that each species of Meloe is apparently the 

 parasite of diverse Bees, a suspicion which 

 will be confirmed when we examine the man- 

 ner in which the larvae reach the cell full of 

 honey. The Sitares, though less given to 

 change of lodging, are likewise able to in- 

 habit nests of different species. They are 

 very common in the cells of Anthophora 

 pilipes; but I have found them also, in very 

 small numbers, it is true, in the cells of A. 

 personata. 



Despite the presence of Meloe cicatricosus 

 in the dwellings of the Mason-bee, which I 

 so often ransacked in compiling the history 

 of the Sitares, I never saw this insect, at any 

 season of the year, wandering on the per- 

 pendicular soil, at the entrance of the corri- 

 dors, for the purpose of laying its eggs 



