216 K. T. LEWIS ON THE LARVA OF MANTISPA. 



metamorphosis. On leaving the egg it is said to bore its way 

 into the ovisac of a spider and to feed upon the eggs or young 

 until it has changed its skin a second time; it then becomes 

 completely altered in appearance, the legs disappear, the head is 

 reduced in size and loses its antennae and other prominent 

 features, the body becomes thickest in the middle, and the larva 

 is converted into a comparatively helpless fleshy grub, which 

 when mature spins a silken cocoon in which its transformation 

 to a nymph takes place. It then emerges from the cocoon,, 

 makes its way out of the egg-bag of the spider, and then begins 

 to resemble the perfect insect as regards the general shape of the 

 head, body, antennae and legs, but is furnished with only rudi- 

 mentary wings. In this state it continues to feed, until after 

 two more moults it becomes a full-grown neuropterous Mantispa 

 with four membranous wings nearly equal in size, the venation 

 of which varies considerably in different species. 



Journ. Qnckett Microscopical Club, Scr. 2, Vol. XL, No. 68, April 1911. 



