larv

It seems to me, therefore, that it is only on the composite flowers that the Meloe-larvæ await the Bees 'arrival.

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

The young Meloe-larvæ established in the down of the Anthophoræ or in that of the Melecta - and the Coelioxys-bees, their parasites, had adopted an infallible means of sooner or later reaching the desired cell.

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

The males of the Osmia make their appearance even before those of the Anthophora and at so early a season that the young Sitaris-larvæ are perhaps not yet aroused by the instinctive impulse which urges them to activity.

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

On these dry corpses, fit at most for gnawing, but certainly containing nothing to suck, the Sitaris-larvæ took up their customary position and there remained motionless as on the living insect.

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

Meloe-larvæ, motionless in the silky down of the thorax.

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

From what I have said of the Sitaris-larvæ, it is plain that the Meloe-larvæ perched, like the former, on the back of a Bee, have but one aim: to get themselves conveyed by this Bee to the victualled cells.

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

The tiny creatures, when brought into contact with Anthophora-larvæ or - nymphs, paid no attention whatever to their prey; others, placed near cells which were open and full of honey, did not enter them, or at most ventured to the edge of the orifice; others, lastly, put inside the cell, on the dry wall or on the surface of the honey, came out again immediately or else got stuck and died.

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

A few strokes of the net, aimed, beyond the limits of the swarm, at the Anthophoræ on their way to the harvest or returning, soon informed me that the Sitaris-larvæ are perched on the thorax, as I expected, occupying the same position as on the males.

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

But the Meloe-larvæ, more greatly favoured, are able to set off immediately in search of the

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

The first has Sitaris-larvæ on her thorax; so has the second; the third and fourth likewise; and so on, as far as I care to pursue the examination.

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