122 THE LARVA FORM. 



machinery by which life's varied duties are car- 

 ried on. 



The larva lives in the earth, a grub easily dug 

 up in the moist prairie lands ; of an elongated 

 sub-cylindrical form, tapering off towards each 

 extremity ; its colour a dingy yellow ; destitute 

 of feet; having a body divided into twelve 

 segments, each segment being banded with a row 

 of minute horny hooks an admirable con- 

 trivance, enabling it to drag itself along through 

 the earth. The head is horny, and brownish- 

 yellow in colour, also armed with hooks to aid in 

 progression. The pupa I have never seen, but 

 De Geer tells us the pupa of Tab anus bovinus is 

 'naked, incomplete, elongated, sub-cylindrical, 

 with six spines at the end of the body, the 

 margins of the abdominal segments ciliated, 

 and the forehead bi-tubercled.' 



Where or when the eggs of the Tabanidce are 

 deposited is not generally known, but it is more 

 than probable on the stems of plants, to which 

 they are fastened by a glutinous secretion; the 

 grub, when hatched, falling on the ground, at 

 once buries itself. Neither is it known how long 

 a time the larva remains in the earth ere it 

 changes to the pupa form. 



I remember once being busily occupied all 



