192 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the walls of the box clothed with a very fine white silk, the network con- 

 sisting of very small meshes and representing circular tunnels, in which 

 the dead larvae were found. Mr. Lucas has observed in the field threads 

 of silk arranged near the entrance of the tunnels, and beUeves them to 

 serve as traps or to give notice of the presence of insects. He believes 

 the Embia to be carnivorous. The larvae live isolated. 



Concerning the larva, Lucas, Expl. Alg., p. 114, states that obliged to 

 leave for Constantine in March, he put several larv^ in separate boxes 

 together with some insects as food. After his return in October, he found 

 all dead ; only one had transformed to a winged imago. This interesting 

 observation is the only one known of the transformation of the wingless 

 form into the imago state. But then the nympha skin with the empty 

 wing cases must have been in the same box. Though the observation of 

 an eminently distinguished observer can not be doubted, still it is impos- 

 sible that the imago could have transformed out of the wingless form 

 without having before passed through a nympha form with visible wing 

 cases. Mr. Lucas' observations are extremely interesting, in so far as he 

 has stated the existence of winged females. The description of the 

 internal female organs makes his statements entirely sure. 



E. Mam-ita7iica is very near to E. Savignyi. It is apparently a mis- 

 understanding when Mr. Lucas, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. Bull., p. 98, states that 

 I have united the two species in the Synopsis Embid., p. 21-22. Both 

 species are there enumerated as different, and nothing is said about their 

 relations. As I have never seen E. Mau7-ltanica^ I can state, after a 

 careful study of the description and the figures, that both species must be 

 very nearly related. It is to be assumed that Mr. Lucas has seen Savigny's 

 type, described by Rambur, in the Jardin des Plantes. If he had seen 

 other specimens I believe he would have mentioned the fact. Therefore 

 his statements represent probably the comparison of his species with the 

 type of Savigny. After all E. Maitritanica seems to differ by much 

 darker colors, the lack of villosity of the antennae of the imago (those of 

 the larva are hairy), by the length of the last joint of palpi, by the asym- 

 metry of the left appendage, and by less transversals of the wings. 



1 1 . Embia Per ska. 



E. Persica McLachl., Jour. Linn. Soc. Lond., vol. xiii., p. 382. 

 Female? Length of body 9}^ to 10)^ mill.; exp. of wings 13^ to 

 15 mill. 



