156 



INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



\ng 



water *." The air, which enters through several 

 openings in the breathing tube, passes onwards to 

 two lateral wind pipes, very similar to those of cater- 

 pillars, as above described. When it wishes to descend 

 to the bottom of the water, it folds up the hairs of the 

 funnel, but by means of its oil retains at their ends a 

 g'lobule of air ; and when it wishes to re-ascend, it 

 has only to open its hair funnel again. 



Lhvva of tie coinrnon pnat (^Culex pipiensf) floating in water, 

 greatly magnififi. a a, the body and head of the larva, b, the 

 respiratory appar-itus:, situated in the tail, c, the larva, not mag- 

 niried. 



A similar but more elegant apparatus for the same 

 purpose occurs in the water-grub of a two-winged 

 fly, which Goedart called the chameleon-fly {Stratio- 

 mys chamtBleon, IMeigen), because he found it could 

 live nine months without food. The terminal ring of 

 this grub is extended to a considerable length, and 

 fringed at the end with a betiutiful star-like funnel of 

 thirty feathered hairs. Whether the creature oils these, 

 * Biblia NatuPcC, i. 154. 



