THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 83 



The larvae consume immense quantities of Aphides, and may be seen 

 chasing, or rather, stalking the plant-lice, and eating them one after the 

 other, taking the whole set on a leaf or stem in regular order. "The larvae 

 (see fig. 9) are rather long, oval, soft-bodied and pointed behind, with the 

 Fig. 9. prothorax larger than the other rings, often gaily colored and 

 beset with tubercles or spines." After having eaten voraci- 

 ously for the appointed time, the larva attaches itself by its 

 tail to a leaf or a twig — after the fashion of a caterpillar — and 

 either throws back its skin or else keeps it loosely folded about 

 it as a protection; in this position it remains quiescent for some 

 ten or fifteen days, and then emerges a perfect insect. 



We will now briefly refer to some of the well known Coccinellidae 

 which make the Dominion of Canada their home. 



The Two-spotted Coccinella, C.bipiincfata, Linn., is our most common 

 species. They appear to have two broods each season ; the eggs are of 

 an orange yellow, and attached in bunches of about twenty-five to the 

 bark of trees. They hatch out when the leaves and their natural article 

 of diet, the Aphis, appear. The body of the larva is black, with flattened 

 tubercles, adorned on top with spines ; on each side of the first abdominal 

 segment is a yellowish spot, and there is another broad one in the middle 

 of the fourth segment, and one on each side. Packard thus describes the 

 modus operajidi of the larva becoming a pupa, and the appearance of the 

 pupa itself : " The larva begins the operation by attaching very firmly, 

 with a sort of silky gum, its tail to the leaf, the point of attachment not 

 being the extreme tip, but just before it, where the tip of the abdomen 

 of the pupa is situated. Meanwhile the body contracts in length and 

 widens, the head is bent upon the breast, and in about 24 hours the skin 

 splits open and discloses the pupa. The body of the pupa is black ; the 

 head is also black, and the prothorax is black and yellowish pink, with a 

 black dot on each side, and a smaller black dot on each edge. The 

 meso-thorax, wing-covers, scutellum and legs are shining black. The 

 abdominal rings are pale flesh-colored, with two rows of large black spots 

 on each side, the spots being transverse ; the terga of the fourth to the 

 seventh segments are separated, the body being arched and Fig. 10. 

 leaving a deep furrow between." 



The Nine-spotted Coccinella, C. novem-noiata, Herbst. (see 

 fig. 10), is one of our most common beetles, and may be found 

 in all parts of our Dominion ; it is of a red brick color, somewhat 



