(Anthophora), and the habits of which have been carefully observed 
and excellently described by a French naturalist, M. Fabre. The 
female Sitaris, which comes to maturity in August, never wanders flir 
away from the sandy banks in which the Antho})hora loves to burrow. 
At that time no Anthopb.oras are abroad, their period of maturity is not 
in autumn, but in spring, and consequently, though the bee is so 
necessary to the beetle, we are at once met with the remarkable fact 
that no perfect Sitaris ever saw one of the bees, and it is probable that 
no Anthophora has ever yet seen a Sitaris. The latter lays her eggs, 
which are about 2500 in number, in the burrow leading to the cell 
of the Anthophora. These eggs are hatched in September, and produce 
small, black, active larvae, about 1-25 of an inch in length, with four 
eyes, two rather long antennae, and six well-formed legs. But though 
evidently adapted for an active life the young larvEe remain quiet among 
their empty egg-shells until the spring. Then the Antho])hora comes 
to maturity, and as it passes out along the burrow the young larvae 
spring upon it. The male bees, however, leave their cells about 
a month before the females ; consequently the larva first finds itself 
on the male bee, from which, however, at the first opportunity it 
passes to the female. She, poor thing, unconscious of her misfortune, 
proceeds to excavate her burrow in the usual manner, constructs the 
usual cell, and fills it with honey. On the honey she lays her egg, but 
at this moment the larva of Sitaris springs on to the egg and floats on it, 
as on a raft. It then tears open the egg and devours it, thus at once 
destroying a rival, and making its first meal. As it has by this time 
been seven months without food, this its first food must be very wel- 
come. But it is necessary on another account. The larva in its first 
form, though beautifully fitted for its mode of life, is quite unsuited to 
live on honey in a bee's cell. Hence a change of form is necessary. 
The increase of size produced by devouring the egg enables the larva 
to change its skin, and it now emerges in a form very different indeed 
from the last. The .eyes have disappeared, the legs and antennae are 
rudimentary. The mouth is so placed that when the larva floats on 
the honey it is just below the surface, while the spiracles are arranged 
along the back so as to be just above it. Lastly, the belly is very pro- 
tuberant, and thus prevents the larva from rolling, in which case the 
spiracles might be choked by the honey, and the insect suflTocated. 
After living from thirty-five to forty days in this condition, during 
which it increases very considerably in size, the larva ceases to feed, 
and contracts into an ovoid body, resembling in many respects the so- 
called pupa of a fly. Within this, as in a case, it forms a new skin, 
and takes on a fourth form not very unlike the second. After four or 
five weeks it changes again into a chrysalis, from which finally the 
perfect beetle emerges. 
Here then we find, firstly, a remarkable change of form accompany- 
ing a change of habits, and secondly, a case in which the life is divided 
into more than three well-marked stages. This phenomenon received 
from M. Fabre the name of Hypermetamorphosis. For some time 
