Chapter 13

Snail-shells. The second harbours the Burnt Zonitis (Z. proeusta (Cf. "The Glow-worm and Other Beetles": chapter 6.--Translator's Note.)). Amply nourished this Meloe then acquires her normal size, the size in which she usually figures in the collections. A like prosperity awaits her when she usurps the provisions of Megachile sericans. (For this Bee, the Silky Leaf-cutter, cf. "Bramble-bees and Others": chapter 8.--Translator's Note.) But the imprudent creature sometimes allows itself to be carried away to the meagre table of the smallest of our Anthidia (A. scapulare, LATR. (A Cotton-bee, cf. idem: chapter 9.--Translator's Note.)), who makes her nests in dry bramble-stems. The scanty fare makes a wretched dwarf of the offspring belonging to either sex, without depriving them of any of their racial features. We still see the Burnt Zonitis, with the distinctive sign of the species: the singed patch at the tip of the wing-cases.

And the other Meloidae--Cantharides, Cerocomae, Mylabres (For these Blister-beetles or Oil-beetles, cf. "The Glow-worm and Other Beetles":