Sitaris

The genus Sitaris, which is allied to the blister-fly and to the oil-beetle, is parasitic on a kind of solitary bee which excavates subterranean galleries, each leading to a cell.

A Book of Natural History Young Folks' Library Volume XIV. Various 1891

The young Meloe leaves the down of the Bee at the moment when the egg is laid; and, since contact with the honey would be fatal to the grub, it must, in order to save itself, adopt the tactics followed by the Sitaris, that is to say, it must allow itself to drop on the surface of the honey with the egg which is in the act of being laid.

The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles Jean-Henri Fabre 1869

Now, if an insect, undergoing transformations like those of the Sitaris, were to become the progenitor of a whole new class of insects, the course of development of the new class would be widely different from that of our existing insects; and the first larval stage certainly would not represent the former condition of any adult and ancient form.

XIV. Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology-Embryology-Rudimentary Organs. Development and Embryology 1909

As soon as the female bee deposits her eggs on the surface of the honey stored in the cells, the larvas of the Sitaris leap on the eggs and devour them.

XIV. Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology-Embryology-Rudimentary Organs. Development and Embryology 1909

And of such, selecting an instance that will not take us too far from our bees, I know of no instance more striking than that of the triongulins of the _Sitaris colletes.

The Life of the Bee Maurice Maeterlinck 1905

But what shall we say of the little beetle, the Sitaris, whose story is so often quoted?

Evolution créatrice. English Henri Bergson 1900

Sitaris itself knew that its larva would know all these things.

Evolution créatrice. English Henri Bergson 1900

The males of the bee emerge from the pupæ sooner than the females, and M. Fabre ascertained that, as they come out of their galleries, the little Sitaris larvæ fasten upon them.

A Book of Natural History Young Folks' Library Volume XIV. Various 1891

Acting on this hint, M. Fabre examined many specimens of the bee, and found on them at last the larvæ of his Sitaris.

A Book of Natural History Young Folks' Library Volume XIV. Various 1891

The honey, which is enough for either, would be too little for both; and the Sitaris, therefore, at its first meal, relieves itself from its only rival.

A Book of Natural History Young Folks' Library Volume XIV. Various 1891