9 o ON THE ORIGIN AND [CHAP. 



as regards the wings, PL 4, Fig. 4, representing the 

 larva of a small beetle named Sitaris, answers very 

 well to this description. Many other Beetles are 

 developed from larvse closely resembling those of 

 Meloe (PL 4, Fig. 2), and Sitaris (PL 4, Fig. 4); in 

 fact except those species the larvae of which, as, for 

 instance of the Weevils (PL 2, Fig. 6), are internal 

 feeders, and do not require legs we may say that 

 the Coleoptera generally are derived from larvae of 

 this type. 



I will now pass to a second order, the Neuroptera. 

 PL 4, Fig. i t represents the larva of Chloeon, a 

 species the metamorphoses of which I described 

 some years ago in the Linnean Transactions, l and 

 it is obvious that in essential points it closely re- 

 sembles the form to which I have just alluded. 



The Orthoptera, again, the order to which Grass- 

 hoppers, Crickets, Locusts, &c. belong, commence 

 life in a similar condition ; and the same may also 

 be said of the Trichoptera. 



The larvae of Bees when they quit the egg are 

 entirely legless, but in an earlier stage they possess 

 well-marked rudiments of thoracic legs, showing, as 

 it seems to me, that their apodal condition is an 

 adaptation to their circumstances. Other Hymen- 

 opterous larvae, those for example of Sirex (Fig. 9), 

 and of the Saw-flies (Fig. 50) have well-developed 

 thoracic legs. 



From the difference in external form, and especially 



from the large comparative size of the abdomen, 



these larvae, as well as those of Lepidoptera (Fig. 



1 Linnean Transactions, 1866, vol. xxv. 



