588 THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 



blister-beetles find their way to the nests of solitary bees 

 has not yet reached perfection ; for many of the larv^ae at- 

 tach themselves to flies, wasps, honey-bees, and other flower- 

 visiting insects, and merely gain useless transportation 

 thereby. 



Nearly two hundred species of blister-beetles have been 

 found in this country. The majority of our common species 

 belong to the genera named below. 



Meloe, — The beetles of this genus present an exception 

 to the characters of the Coleoptera, in that the wing-covers, 

 instead of meeting in a straight line down the 

 middle of the back, overlap at the base (Fig. 

 717). These wing-covers are short, and the 

 wings are lacking. These beetles are called 

 oil-beetles in England, on account of the yel- 

 lowish liquid which oozes from their joints in 



Fig, 717. large drops when they are handled. Our 

 most common species is the Buttercup Oil-beetle, Meloe 

 angusticollis (Mel^o-e an-gus-ti-coHis). It may be found in 

 meadows and pastures feeding on the leaves of various 

 species of buttercups. 



Nernogfiatha. — The species of the genus NemognatJia 

 (Ne-mog'na-tha) are remarkable for having the maxillae 

 developed into a long sucking-tube, which is sometimes as 

 long as the body, and which resembles somewhat the suck- 

 ing-tube of a butterfly. A similar modification of the 

 maxillae occurs in the genus Gnathium (Gnath^i-um), which 

 differs from Nemognatha in having a slight thickening of the 

 outer segments of the antennae. The species of these two 

 genera occur chiefly in the South and West. 



Our most common species of blister-beetles in the East 

 belong to the genus Epicauta (Ep-i-cau^ta). These insects 

 feed in the adult state upon the leaves of potato, and upon 

 the pollen of goldenrod ; the larvae, so far as is known, are 

 parasitic in the egg-cases of locusts. The Pennsylvania 

 Blister-beetle, Epicauta pennsylvanica, (E. penn-syl-van'i-ca), 



