III. LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 



METAMOKPHOSES. 

 HALOBATES. 



The Egg. — The only account that has been given of the egg of Halohates is by M. 

 Leon Fairmaire, whose note on the subject is reproduced in the part of this memoir 

 relating to the literature of the subject. I am able to add to our scanty knowledge, by 

 describing the egg of Halohates tviillerstorffi, of which there is before me one of about 

 twenty-five found (in a Challenger specimen of u'iiUerstorffi) by Mr. John Campbell, the 

 optician to whom I am indebted for the preparation of the microscopic specimens 

 which I have used in examining the minuter anatomical structure of these insects. 



The egg is very large in comparison with the size of the animal. Consequently the 

 small abdomen is not sufficiently spacious to contain even so few as twenty-five or thirty, 

 and part of the cavity of the thorax is employed to hold them. The egg of iviiller- 

 storffi, (PI. III. fig. 30) is long oval in outline, measuring 1"2 mm. long by "S mm. 

 broad, and the integuments do not show any particular markings or structure. The 

 contents wei'e rather coarse amorphous particles of coagulated albumen. The eggs 

 found by M. Fairmaire are described as oblong in shape, and the species furnishing 

 them were sericeus or Jtaviventris, — whether rightly determined or not, it is now 

 impossible to say, as M. Fairmaire informs me that he gave away the specimens long ago. 



No observations have been made as to when and where the eggs are deposited. The 

 statement ^ that the female carries them about, attached to the abdomen, after they have 

 been extruded. Professor Moseley informs me is a mistake. 



The Larva and Pupa. — These two stages will be considered together, for in this as 

 in other ametabolous groups of insects it is not easy to say where the one ends and the 

 other begins, the more especially as we do not yet know how many times the young 

 Halohates changes its skin. 



While resembling in general form the adult animal, the laxva has several important 

 structural diff'erences. 



' Moseley, Kotes by a Natui'alist ou the Challenger, p. 572. 



