MELOi'DJE. 



171 



" cantharidine," which is of so much use in medicine for producing 

 blisters ; the property has apparently been known from very early 

 times. The life-histories of JSitaris and Epicauta have been referred 

 to above (pp. 32, 33). 



The family falls into two well-marked divisions as follows : — 



I. Side-pieces of the meso- and meta-sternum covered 

 by the elytra, the inflexed portion of which is 

 very broad ; elytra abbreviated and imbricate ; 



metasternum short Meloin^e. 



II. Side-pieces of the meso- and meta-sternum not 

 covered by the elytra, the inflexed portion of 

 which is narrow ; metasternum long- Lyttinje. 



The species of Meloe are wingless and are found on the ground, 

 the LyttinjE for the most part are active and occur on trees and 

 flowers, etc. ; Sitaris is found on or about old walls (its trans- 

 formations are figured on p. 32). 



The family contains about 1500 species, which are very widely 

 distributed ; several species of Mylabris and Lytta occur in India, 

 but on the whole the group is very poorly represented both in the 

 Indian and Australian regions. 



Fig. 75. — Epicauta actceon (natural size). 



Leconte and Horn form a separate family CephaloievE for the 

 reception of the few species of the rare genus Cepliahon, which has 

 the base of the pro thorax as broad as the base of the elytra. It 

 is, however, best left at present under the Meloie^e ; only a very 

 few species have been described (from Siberia, Japan, and jSTorth 

 America), and very little is known about them. 



