72 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



failure because their natural food was unknown. I have 

 recently found what their food consists of. Before making 

 this discovery I had arrived, from a careful study of the 

 anatomy of the mouth parts of these larvae, at the conclu- 

 sion now confirmed that they are carnivorous in habit. 



Their food consists of the vegetable feeding Myriapoda, 

 particularly of Julus and Polydesmus with a preference for 

 Julus, because the large area of the rings of this genus af- 

 fords space for the larva to penetrate the interior of the 

 Myriapod. Its manner of feeding is to seize the hinder 

 part of the Julus, and perforate a segment, reaching the 

 soft inner parts, which it devours at leisure, creeping 

 through many segments without disjointing them, and re- 

 maining inside these rings for days at a time, till one can 

 see little else but the slowly wriggling form of the dying 

 Julus. 



I have a full fed larva, which I hope will go through its 

 metamorphosis, and solve the problem. And now its mode 

 of life is made known, other persons who are equally anx- 

 ious with myself that nature shall yield this long kept 

 secret, can apply themselves with renewed energy to the 

 task of discovering the identity of the perfect insect. 



