AND COLLEGE, PUSA, FOR 1915-16 81 



March and during April; oviposition seems to take place 

 only between about the hours of noon and 2 p.m. The eggs 

 of this Chrysops are smaller and thinner than those of 

 Tdbanus; they are arranged in a single layer, forming a 

 compact mass ; the process of oviposition is almost the same 

 as in Tdbanus. The new-laid eggs are creamy-white, 

 later changing to pale-brown and ultimately to fuscous; 

 they hatch after 7 days (1-30 p.m. on 22nd March to 8 a.m. 

 on 28th March). The larvae, like those of Tdbanus, wriggle 

 out from the eggs and very soon drop into the water. The 

 larva appears sluggish but readily shams death, by bring- 

 ing together both ends of its body, even at the slightest 

 contact of the vessel in which they were kept; this habit 

 seems characteristic of larvae of this genus but not of other 

 Tabanid larvae. The newly hatched larva is about 1 mm. 

 long and has a white syphon-tube which as well as the 

 last segment, is clothed with very minute hairs; all body 

 segments, except first and last (syphon), with a pair of very 

 small delicate bristles on lateral margin; the first body- 

 segment has two pairs, whilst the syphon carries about 

 three pairs apically; Graber's organ marked by two black 

 dots. After a week, little change is visible except that 

 Graber's organ is marked by two pairs of dots, posterior 

 pair smaller. Larvae three weeks old measured 3 mm. long 

 by 07 mm. broad, and Graber's organ had seven black dots, 

 six paired and one single. Larvae one month old were 5 mm. 

 long by 0-75 mm. broad, and the whole body had developed 

 a pattern on its surface, so that the appearance of the larvae 

 was quite altered; Graber's organ had now nine black dots. 

 The larvae feed readily on dead earthworms and are pro- 

 bably cannibalistic. 



Larvae of Gastroxides ater, kept under observation in a 

 small glass vessel, were not found to be cannibalistic. This 

 species breeds in hollows in tree-trunks. The flies some- 

 times come into light at night (as do several species of 

 Tdbanus) and are perhaps nocturnal in their habit of 

 flight. 



