The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



doubt from the overdry atmosphere of my 

 receivers, conceal from us the genus and the 

 species of the Mantis-eating Meloid? For- 

 tunately, no. The riddle is easily solved by 

 deduction and comparison. 



The only Melodiae in my part of the 

 country which, though their habits are still 

 unknown, might correspond in size with 

 either the larva or the pseudochrysalis in 

 question are the Twelve-pointed Mylabris 

 and Schaeffer's Cerocoma. I find the first 

 in July on the flowers of the sea scabious; I 

 find the second at the end of May and in 

 June on the heads of the lies d'Hyeres ever- 

 lasting. This last date is best-suited to ex- 

 plain the presence of the parasitic larva and 

 its pseudochrysalis in the Tachytes' burrows 

 from July onwards. Moreover, the Cero- 

 coma is very abundant in the neighbourhood 

 of the sand-heaps haunted by the Tachytes, 

 while the Mylabris does not occur there. 

 Nor is this all : the few nymphs obtained have 

 curious antennae, ending in a full, irregular 

 tuft, the like of which is found only in the 

 antennae of the male Cerocoma. The Myla- 

 bris, therefore, must be eliminated; the an- 

 tennas, in the nymph, must be regularly 

 jointed, as they are in the perfect insect. 

 There remains the Cerocoma. 

 r6o 



