SlTARIS.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-MoRUELLID^. 



225 



Blapsidm, African Pimelicc, ciirious South American 

 Nyctelida, the TeiiebrionidcB, the HelopidceflnA Cistelidre, 

 one of which, described and figured by Mr. Curtis, is 

 represented in the subjoined cut, 114. 



Fig. 113, 



Fig. 114. 



Nyctelia multicrisl.i'a. 



Nyctelia granulata. 



A figure is given of the African Adesmia candidi- 

 pennis, or of an allied species, oue of the Melasomata, 

 so called from their black colours (fig. 115). This 

 species has beautiful white elytra. 



The Giiathium Francilloni, with its long thread-like 

 raaxillse, is figured on Plate 3, fig. 16. 



The other families, Melaiulryada, Diaperidce, and 

 Trachyscdidce, would require a volume to contain their 

 description. Fig. 116 shows the larva and pupa 

 respectively of Lagria hiria, discovered by M. Ferris. 



Fig. 115. 



Fig. 116. 



Adesmia candidipennis. 



Lagria liirta — a larva 

 6 pupa. 



In this country there is a small beetle about half an 

 inch long, called Sitaris hmneralts. It is a blackish 

 brown rather ungainly beetle, with large wings, which 

 are only partially covered by the short elytra, and 

 have a yellowish patch at the shoulder or base, whence 

 the beetle derives its name of humeralis. This beetle is 

 a parasite in the nest of Anthophora acervorum, a bee 

 which constructs its cells in old walls. Professor Fabre 



of Avignon has lately cleared up* ita history, which 

 seems to resemble that of Meloe. He thus sums up liis 

 observations — Sitaris, Meloe, and apparently the other 

 Meloidae are all parasites on Hymenoptera in their early 

 stages. The larva, before reacliing the nymph state, 

 passes through four forms, which Professor Fabre calls 

 primitive larva, second larva, pseudo-chrysalis, and 

 third larva. The passage from one of these forms to 

 the other is effected by a simple moult or change of 

 skin, %vithout any change in the viscera. The primi- 

 tive larva is coriaceous and fi.\es itself on the body of 

 Hymenoptera, as its object is to reach a cell full of 

 honey. When it has been carried by the bee to the 

 cell, the little larva devours the egg of the bee, for 

 which this cell was made and the honey deposited. 

 Its object has been effected. The second larva is soft 

 and nearly apodal, and differs entirely from the primi- 

 tive larva, which is slim and long-legged. In tliis 

 stage it feeds on the honey contained in the cell. The 

 pseudo-chrysalis is a body deprived of all motion, and 

 covered with hard teguments compared with those of 

 the pupaj or cbrysalids. On these teguments there is 

 a cephalic mask, without movable and distinct parts ; 

 six tubercles, representing legs, and nine pairs of stig- 

 matic orifices ; the pseudo-chrysalis is contained in 

 another covering formed by the skin of the second larva. 

 The third larva is very similar to the second. After 

 this third larva, the metauKjrphoses follow their habi- 

 tual course; that is to say, this larva becomes a nymph, 

 and this nymph a perfect insect. 



The female Sitaris lays very small white oval eggs. 

 Fabre calculates the number deposited by one insect to 

 be upwards of two thousand. 



Family— ANTHICIDiE. 



Of the family Anthicid^, so common in flowers, 

 whence their name, there is figured (Plate 3, fig. 20) 

 the strange Notoxus monoceros — the male of which has 

 the thorax curiously produced in front over the head. 

 There is also figured on the same plate (fig. 10) another 

 member of this family — the Anlhicus i^cdesiris, with its 

 attenuated thorax. The other British genera are Me- 

 cinotarsvs, Xylophilus, and the large-eyed Euglenes. 

 Mr. Wateihouse records thirteen species as British. 



Family— MORDELLID.a:. 



The family MoRDELLiDiE is an important one, many 

 of them being parasites. 



Here too comes Rhipiphorus paradoxus, that known 

 parasite, and perhaps the Strepsiptera, briefly 

 alluded to in these pages between Hymenoptera and 

 Coleoptera. 



• Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Ser. 4e, vol. vii. pp. 299- 

 365: 1857. 



Vol. II. 



2F 



