The Primary Larva of the Oil-Beetles 



Anthophora, the imperceptible larva can 

 recognize, by sight, the enormous mass 

 which it is perambulating? 



Is it by touch, by some sensation due to 

 the inner vibrations of living flesh? Not so, 

 for the Meloes remain motionless on insect 

 corpses that have dried up completely, on 

 dead Anthophorae taken from cells at least 

 a year old. I have seen them keep abso- 

 lutely quiet on fragments of an Anthophora 

 on a thorax long since nibbled and emptied 

 by the Mites. By what sense then can they 

 distinguish the thorax of an Anthophora 

 from a velvety pellet, when sight and touch 

 are out of the question? The sense of smell 

 remains. But in that case what exquisite 

 subtlety must we not take for granted? 

 Moreover, what similarity of smell can we 

 admit between all the insects which, dead or 

 alive, whole or in pieces, fresh or dried, suit 

 the Meloes, while anything else does not 

 suit them? A wretched louse, a living 

 speck, leaves us mightily perplexed as to the 

 sensibility which directs it. Here is yet one 

 more riddle added to all the others. 



After the observations which I have de- 

 scribed, it remained for me to search the 

 earthen surface inhabited by the Antho- 

 phorse: I should then have followed the 

 103 



