84 THE ENTOMOLOGY OP THE GRASS-TKEES, 



The larvjB live in the decaying wood and putrid water that has 

 accumulated between the caudex and the sheath, crawling about 

 mixed up with the maggots of the last described species, sometimes 

 in considerable numbers. Specimens kept in a damp jar pupated 

 among the rotten wood at the bottom about three weeks after they 

 were taken. Pupa case light brown, covered with bits of dirt; 

 the apex and sides rounded, oval, with the long slender anal 

 segment produced into a slender tube curving sharply round, and 

 retaining the anal tube at the tip. 



Fly 5 lines in length, steely blue, thorax and abdomen smooth 

 and shining; face and antennae covered with fine hairs, the latter 

 short with the last segment oval and flattened, ornamented with 

 a fine bristle; legs piceous, covered with fine hairs; wings hyaline, 

 very slightly clouded. 



Ephippium albitarsis C?), Bigot. 



(Plate IX., figs. 12-13.) 



Larva 8 lines in length, 2 in width, varying from greyish- 

 brown to black; head much narrower, slender, horny, broadest at 

 the base, sloj^ing up to a truncate tip, with an eye-like spot on 

 either side, and several short bristles along the sides, the mouth 

 concave; thoracic and abdominal segments broad, convex on both 

 dorsal and ventral surfaces, the hind margin of the first five 

 sloping back, first arcuate behind the head, narrow, the following 

 ones gradually increasing in size to the fourth, and of a uniform 

 width to the ninth, tenth smaller, the last spatulate, with a round 

 impression on the dorsal surface; outer margins of each segment 

 fringed with two long bristles, a few scattered ones over the 

 dorsal surface. 



The pupa undergoes its transformation in the larval skin, the 

 fly emerging from the base of the head. They are plentiful in 

 decaying stems between the caudex and sheath, living among the 

 rotten matter, and are very sluggish in their habits. Specimens 

 I collected remained among some rotten wood and mould for 



