RILEY — LARVAL HABITS OF BLISTER-BEETLES. 557 



articulating, tarsal claws on the stout-thighed but spineless* 

 legs, and, in addition, a caudal spinning apparatus. The 

 mandibles scarcely extend beyond the labrum ; the creature 

 seeks the light, and is admirably adapted to adhering to bees 

 but not to burrowing in the ground. The second larva is 

 mellivorous, and the transformations from the coarctate lar- 

 val stage all take place within the unrent larval skin. — We 

 have : 



2nd — The more spinous and larger triungulin of the still more 

 prolific Meloe^ with long caudal setae, but otherwise closely 

 resembling that of Si tar is in the femoral, tarsal and trophial 

 characters, in the subequal thoracic joints, in the unarmed 

 tibiae, and in the instinctive love of light and fondness for 

 fastening to bees. The second larva is also mellivorous, but 

 the later transformations take place in the rent and partly 

 shed skins of the second and coarctate larvae. — We have : 



3rd — The larger and much more spinous triungulins of the less 

 prolific Epicauta^ Macrobasis^ and Hcnous ; with unequal 

 thoracic joints, powerful mandibles and maxillae, shortened 

 labrum, slender femora, well-armed tibiae, slender, spine-like, 

 less perfect tarsal claws — combined with an instinctive love 

 of darkness and tendency to burrow and hide in the ground. 

 The second larva takes the same food as the first, its skin is 

 almost entirely cast from the coarctate larva, while the sub- 

 sequent changes are independent and entirely free of the shell 

 of this last. 



Larval Habits of Cantharis. 



The question naturallv arises here, whether Cantharis^ in its 

 lanal habits, will most agree with Meloe and Sitaris or with 

 Epicauta. The triungulin, except in becoming almost black, 

 has much in common with Melde^ in the subequal thoracic joints, 

 the toothless mandibles, and the long antennae ; also in its habit, 

 observed by Lichtenstein, of fastening to bees. The fact that it 

 can nourish on honey, though it does not appear to do so freely, 

 would also indicate that it breeds in the nests of solitary bees. 

 Nevertheless, in the slender thighs and the caudal and abdominal 



• The larva of S. humeralis appears to differ from that of S. colletis in having hairs on 

 the femora and tibiae. 



