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Nor is this all: the few nymphs obtained have curious antennæ, ending in a full, irregular tuft, the like of which is found only in the antennæ of the male Cerocoma. The Mylabris, therefore, must be eliminated; the antennæ, in the nymph, must be regularly jointed, as they are in the perfect insect. There remains the Cerocoma.
By eliminating what was known to me and seeking among the Meloidæ of my neighbourhood for the size that corresponded with the pseudochrysalids unearthed from the Tachytes' burrows, I found, as I have said, only Schaeffer's Cerocoma and the Twelve-spotted Mylabris. I undertook to rear these in order to obtain their eggs.
The Cerocoma, who is a golden green like the Cantharides, seems to have partly adopted the amorous rites of her rival in dress. The male, always the elegant sex in the insect tribe, wears special ornaments. The horns or antennæ, magnificently complicated, form as it were two tufts of a thick head of hair. It is to this that the name Cerocoma refers: the creature crested with its horns.
A vagabond obliged to find for itself the food that suits it, the Cerocoma incurs the risk of Lenten fare. One chapter is lacking to complete the history of Schaeffer's Cerocoma: that which treats of the beginning, the laying of the eggs, the egg itself and the primary larva.
This last date is best-suited to explain the presence of the parasitic larva and its pseudochrysalis in the Tachytes' burrows from July onwards. Moreover, the Cerocoma is very abundant in the neighbourhood of the sand-heaps haunted by the Tachytes, while the Mylabris does not occur there.
His attempts, like mine, had miscarried; but, on comparing the Sérignan pseudochrysalids with those of Schreber's Cerocoma, which came from Aramon, near Avignon, he was able to establish the closest resemblance between the two organisms. Everything therefore confirms the supposition that my discovery can relate only to Schaeffer's Cerocoma.
The only Melodiæ in my part of the country which, though their habits are still unknown, might correspond in size with either the larva or the pseudochrysalis in question are the Twelve-pointed Mylabris and Schaeffer's Cerocoma. I find the first in July on the flowers of the sea scabious; I find the second at the end of May and in June on the heads of the Îles d'Hyères everlasting.
As for the other, it must be eliminated: its extreme rarity in my neighbourhood is a sufficient reason. It is tiresome that the diet of the Aramon Meloid is not known. If I allowed myself to be guided by analogy, I should be inclined to regard Schreber's Cerocoma as a parasite of Tachytes tarsina, who buries her hoards of young Locusts in the high sandy banks.
In that case, the two Cerocomæ would have a similar diet. But I leave it to Dr. Beauregard to elucidate this important characteristic. The riddle is deciphered: the Meloid that eats Praying Mantes is Schaeffer's Cerocoma, of whom I find plenty, in the spring, on the blossoms of the everlasting.
Any lingering doubts may be dispelled: by good fortune, a friend of mine, Dr. Beauregard, who is preparing a masterly work upon the Blister-beetles, had some pseudochrysalids of Schreber's Cerocoma in his possession.
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