302 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



3(1. The larger and much more spinous triungulins of tlie less prolific Eiyicauta,Maerdha- 

 sis, and Henous; with unequal thoiacicjoiuts,X)Owerful mandibles and maxillaj, 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 subsequent changes are independent and 

 entirely free of the shell of this last. 



WHAT IS KNOWX OF THE LARVAL HABITS OF OTHER MELOID GENERA. 



Mylahris, Fabr. {nee. Geoff.), according to Y.-Mayet, is much less prolific than any 



Meioids so far observed. The egg is 2 5 mm. long and I 



)lerably 



thick shell, and the embryo more fully bent within it. The triungulin has many of 



the characters of Epicaaia, jadging fiom the publishe d desc 



VA {Ann. 



Ent de 



I 



Fr., 1878, p. cxcvi), which is, however, not sufficiently detailed as to the trophi 

 doubt not that the genus will be found to infest locust-eggs. 



Horia, Fabr., from what little is known of it, would seem to have a similar partial 

 parasitism to Meloe, but on Carpenter bees. 



Tetraonyx, Latr., was found by Gu^rin-Meneville in places frequented by bumble- 

 bees. 



The eggs of Apalus, Fabr., as well as its triungulin, are said to resemble those of 

 Meloe. 



Zoniiis, Fabr., is known to develop in the cells of Osmia and Anthidium, and to have 

 a coarctate larva much like that of Sltaris. 



Soldier-beetle larvs. — The larva of the Two-liDed Soldier-beetle 

 (TelepJiorusbllineatus,Qayj¥\g. 33,a) was found by Mr. J.L Salter, of Saint 



Cloud, Minn., devouring the eggs, though by no 

 means so common as the blister-beetle larvae. 

 This larva was first described, in 1871, by Mr. 

 Packard; and its carnivorous habit first made 

 known the same year by Mr. Eiley, who found 

 ^ ^ that it preyed upon the common apple-worm. 



Fig. 33. — Two-lined Soldiek- ^, ,,11 11 1 • -1 



BEETLE— a, larva; b, head and two The beetle has browublack wing-covers, and 

 bee.ii."^°(Atter Ri?6y.)^° "^^^^ ' ''' a rcddish-yellow head and thorax; the latter 

 having two short, black longitudinal marks. It is found early in spring 



on various fruit-trees, upon 

 which it doubtless feeds, 

 as Mr. Packard records its 

 feeding on the newly ex- 

 panded leaves of the birch. 

 The larva is of a rich vel- 

 vety-brown color and will 

 doubtless prey on many 

 soft- bodied insects. Mr. N. 

 Coleman, of Bloomfield,Ct., 

 sent us specimens, in the 

 spring of 1876, taken, under 



Head of larva of Two-lined Soldier-Beetle, greatly pCCUliar cirCUmstaUCCS, in a 



well, where they must have 

 been feeding upon small animals in the crevices between the bricks, from 



Fig. 34 

 enlarged; a, upper; b, tnder side, 



