File:Meloe violaceus laying eggs (2917654267).jpg
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Taken on St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly. Meloe violaceus The bee lice climb from holes, which once were strained Out of the vast fecundity of her abdomen, Ascend the swaying stems of composites towards the sun. Surveying ground and grass from this wind-bent zenith, Before the casting off, the dizzying fall Into the bosom of some solitary bee. Descending lower. Descending only into dark. There, in the void, with a bee’s egg for a raft On a sea of honey, the violence is done, The egg ripped asunder, the ocean devoured By a grub that is all bowel. Yet this emerges: An articulated dream, the colour of no metal ever made, All blackness, bleared with violet oil. The head ant-like, the antennae kinked and vibrant, Climbing your hand in hope towards the sun. Source material: Violet oil beetles, observed on heathland on St. Mary’s and St. Martin’s throughout late April and early May, 2004. Meloe violaceus is a particularly handsome beetle, about two inches long, which devours only grass in its adult form. The larva, however, is thoroughly parasitic, and the adult specimens emerging on Scilly no doubt take advantage of the large numbers of solitary bees which nest in the sandy, eroded patches between the granite outcrops on the shores. For full details of the life history of this extraordinary beetle, see Edmund Sandars, An Insect Book for the Pocket, London, 1946, pp. 183-184. (Poem by Giles Watson, 2004.) |
| Date | |
| Source | Meloe violaceus laying eggs |
| Author | Giles Watson from Oxfordshire, England |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by Giles Watson's poetry and prose at https://flickr.com/photos/29320962@N07/2917654267. It was reviewed on 21 September 2022 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0. |
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| current | 01:48, 21 September 2022 | | 2,227 × 1,517 (1.04 MB) | Geo Swan (talk | contribs) | Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons |
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