no INSECT TRANSFORMATION 



of the body is tough and flexible, a series of firm, spine-bearing 

 tubercles, dorsal and lateral in position, being present on each 

 segment. The relatively long, well-formed legs enable this 

 grub to move actively about on the leaves of plants where it 

 hunts for the aphids and other small sucking-insects which 

 furnish its food. Certain leaf -beetles the little osier-eating 

 Phyllodectae for example have larvae (Fig. 61 b) of somewhat 

 similar build. Here, however, the head is relatively broad, 

 and the prothorax is completely covered by a strong tergal 

 shield, while the other segments of the body have transversely 

 arranged plates on the back, and groups of tubercles at the 

 sides, all bearing stiff bristles. The Phyllodecta larva is thus 

 well-protected and adapted for living exposed on the surface 



FIG. 6l. 



a, Willow Leaf Beetle (Phyllodecta) ; b, its larva, x 4. After 

 Carpenter, Econ. Proc. R. Dublin Soc. I. 



of the leaves which it devours greedily through the summer 

 months. 



From such transitional larval types we may now pass to 

 those beetle grubs whose general aspect recalls that of the 

 caterpillar the eruciform type of insect larva as it has been 

 termed * Such a grub is that of one of our common chafers : 

 the cockchafer (Melolontha) or the garden chafer (Phyllopertha) 

 for example (Fig 62). Here we see a stout, cylindrical grub 

 with whitish, flexible cuticle, so strongly wrinkled that the 

 segmentation would not be easy to make out, were not the 

 segmentally-arranged lateral spiracles, situated as usual on 

 the prothorax and on the first eight abdominal segments, 

 exceptionally large and conspicuous (Fig 62 b). The body 



1 A. S. Packard : " A Text-book of Entomology ". New York, 1898. 



