78 



FIELD ZOOLOGY. 



the June bug larva, but straighter and smaller; after the 

 next moult there appears a larva much resembling the 

 June bug larva, even to the curving of the lumpish body. 

 The insect grows rapidly from now on, and then pupates; 

 but even the pupation is strange and much extended. 

 The larva digs into the ground a little way and moults 



F 



Fig. 34. — Stages in the hypermetamorphosis of Epicauta. A, triungulin; 

 B, carabidoid stage of second larva; C, ultimate stage of second larva; D. coarctate 

 larva; E, pupa; F, imago. E is species cinera; the others are vitiata. All 

 enlarged except F. (Folsom, after Riley, from Trans. St. Louis Acad. Science.) 



a fourth time, and frequently passes the winter in this 

 stage ; in the spring two more moultings may take place, 

 and then comes the pupa stage proper ; this lasts for only 

 a few days, and then out comes the adult blister beetle 

 like its father and mother. Some of these blister beetles 

 feed on locust eggs, others eat potato leaves alongside the 

 potato beetles, and others feed on bees' eggs and honey. 

 In the immature stages, so far as known, their food 

 consists of eggs laid by other insects. 



