286 Transformations and Habits of Blister-Beetles. — {May, 
ins a moderate temperature. Yet in the search for locust eggs 
many are, without doubt, doomed to perish, and only the more 
fortunate succeed in finding appropriate diet. Upon the slightest 
disturbance they curl up ina ball with the head bent pretty closely 
on the breast. 
Reaching a locust egg-pod, our triungulin, by chance, or in- 
stinct, or both combined, commences to burrow through the mu- 
cous neck, or covering, and makes its first repast thereon. If it 
has been long in the search, and its jaws are well hardened, it 
makes quick work through this porous and cellular matter, and 
at once gnaws away at an egg, first devouring a portion of the 
shell, and then, in the course of two or three days, sucking up 
the contents. Should two or more triungulins enter the same 
egg-pod, a deadly conflict sooner or later ensues until one alone 
remains the victorious possessor. By the time the contents of an 
egg are consumed, the body of the parasite has perceptibly in- 
creased so that the white sutures between the segmental plates 
show conspicuously, especially as there is a tendency on the part 
of the animal to curve its body, and bring the sutures more into 
relief. A second egg is attacked and more or less completely ex- 
hausted of its contents, when a period of rest ensues, the triungu- 
lin skin splits along the back and there issues the Second Larva 
(Pl. 1., Fig. 4)—white, soft, with reduced legs and quite different 
in general appearance from the first. This molt is experienced 
about the eighth day from the first taking of nourishment. The 
animal now naturally lies in a curved position (Pl. 1., Fig. 4, d), 
but, if extracted from the egg-pod, will stretch itself and move 
with great activity, reminding one very strongly of many Carabid 
larve, for which reason I would designate this as the Carabidoid 
stage of the second larva. After feeding for about another week, @ 
second molt takes place, the skin, as before, splitting along the 
back and the new larva hunching out of it until the extremities are 
brought together and released almost simultaneously. This kind of 
molting, which is characteristic of our blister-beetles up to the 
pseudo-pupal state, is exceptional among insects, the skin being 
ordinarily worked backward from the head. The modification at 
this molt is slight. The mouth-parts and legs become rudimen- 
tary and the body takes on more fully the clumsy aspect of the 
typical Lamellicorn larva, for which reason I designate this as the 
_ Scarabeidoid stage of the second larva. 
