into the nymphal stage, still inside the double vesicular envelope.
Its skin splits along the back in front; and with the assistance of a
few feeble contractions, which reappear at this juncture, it is thrust
behind in the shape of a little ball. There is therefore nothing here
that differs from what happens in the other Beetles.

Nor does the nymph which succeeds this tertiary larva present any
peculiarity: it is the perfect insect in swaddling-bands, yellowish
white, with its various external members, clear as crystal, displayed
under the abdomen. A few weeks elapse, during which the nymph partly
dons the livery of the adult state; and, in about a month, the insect
moults for a last time, in the usual manner, in order to attain its
final form. The wing-cases are now of a uniform yellowish white, as
are the wings, the abdomen and the greater part of the legs; very
nearly all the rest of the body is of a glossy black. In the space of
twenty-four hours, the wing-cases assume their half-black, half-russet
colouring; the wings grow darker; and the legs finish turning black.
This done, the adult organism is completed. However, the Sitaris
remains still a fortnight in the intact shell, ejecting at intervals
white droppings of uric acid, which it pushes back together with the
shreds of its last two sloughs, those of the tertiary larva and of the
nymph. Lastly, about the middle of August, it tears the double bag
that contains it, pierces the lid of the Anthophora's cell, enters a
corridor and appears outside in quest of the other sex.

I have told how, while digging in search of the Sitaris, I found two
cells belonging to _Meloe cicatricosus_. One contained an Anthophora's
egg; with this egg was a yellow Louse, the primary larva of the Meloe.
The history of this tiny creature we know. The second cell also was
full of honey. On the sticky liquid floated a little white larva,
about a sixth of an inch in length and very different from the other
little white larvae belonging to Sitares. The rapid fluctuations of
the abdomen showed that it was eagerly drinking the strong-scented
nectar collected by the Bee. This larva was the young Meloe in the
second period of its development.

I was not able to preserve these two precious cells, which I had
opened wide to examine the contents. On my return from Carpentras, I
found that their honey had been spilt by the motion of the carriage
and that their inhabitants were dead. On the 25th of