RILEY — LARVAL HABITS OF BLISTER-BEETLES. 



547 



Fig. 3S- 



form are known by the name of hypermetamorphoses, the term 

 first given them by Fabre to distinguish them from the normal 

 changes from larva to pupa and imago, experienced by insects 

 generally. The triungulin or first larva (Fig. 35, a) is character- 

 ized by a prominent labrum, very stout thighs, unarmed shanks, 



three broad and 

 subspatulate tarsal 

 claws, feeble and 

 reduced trophi, 

 untoothed jaws, 

 3-jointed antennae* 

 ending in a long 

 seta, and four anal 

 setae, the two in- 

 ner ones longest. 

 When the abdo- 

 men is shrunken 

 the general aspect 



Melok: — a, first larva; f, claws; c, antenna; d maxillary Jg ycrv mucll that 

 palpus; e, labial palpus ; f, mandible; g, an abdominal joint; A, J 



imago 9; /, antenna of cf. of PedlCuluS^ and 



it is hardly surprising that some of the early describers so deter- 

 mined it. 



* My figure is from specimens affecting the mature honey-bee at San Diego, Cal. It 

 corresponds very closely with Newport's original figure and description of thatof the Euro- 

 pean M. cicatricosus, and belongs doubtless to one of our Pacific coast species, probably 

 M, barbanis, Lee. It is 3 mm. long. The head is produced in front, with a strong labrum, 

 beyond which the smooth jaws do not reach; the antennseare 3-jointed, and similar to those 

 of cicatricosus ; the mouth parts are diminutive, the maxillary palpus 3-jointed, the 3d joint 

 longer'than the others together and tipped with a few short, weak points; the labial palpus 

 is 3-jointed; the coxae are armed with a few very strong spines; the femora are very stout 

 and faintly imbricated; the tibiae are unarmed, and tlie tar^sal claws subspatulate, the middle 

 one pale, }^ longer and twice as broad as the two outer ones, which are dark, articulate close 

 together and curve slightly outward. The first pair of stigmata are distinctly dorsal and on 

 the mesothoracic joint. The dorsal hind border of the abdominal joints is armed with S 

 spinous hairs, the 4 intermediate ones only half as long as the others. Newport is evidently 

 wrong in considering the jaws articulate in themselves, while Cand"?ze is wrong in describ- 

 ing the antenna as S-jointed {Mem.de la Soc. Roy. des Sc, viii. p. 5J0, Liige, 1S53) . Pack- 

 ard's figure of what is in all probability M. angusticollis Say, fails to indicate the 

 characteristic mesothoracic spiracles, and probably makes the two outer anal setae too short 

 — these anal appendices being in reality nothing more than prolonged spinous hairs, such 

 as occur on the other joints. The form of the abdomen varies . contracting somewhat with 

 age. Newport remarks on the similarity of the triungulins of Meloe violaceus. At. prosca. 

 rabteus and M. cicatricosus being so great that he could discover m differences. Judging 

 from figures sent me by M. Lichtenstein, very slight differences occur in the relative length 

 of the antennal joints, and none other. 



