158 



INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



The preceding grub may occasionally be found in 

 shallow ditches and about the edges of ponds, in 

 summer ; but a remarkable larva, with a very dif- 

 ferent apparatus for breathing, is much more common 

 in similar situations, and also in the open drains from 

 dunghills, &c. The latter is the maggot of a two- 

 winged bee-like fly (^Helophilus pendulus, Meigen), 

 and from its shape is appropriately termed rat-tailed 

 by Reaumur. The tail is the part of the grub which 

 most merits attention, being formed somewhat after 

 the telescopic model oftheovipositorof the breezeflies*, 



Telescopic-tailed water larvae, a, a glass vessel of water con- 

 taitiiirg the larvae, natural size, b, ma£;nified. view of the tail, 

 with the breathing-tube partially contracted, c, a still more en- 

 larged view of the tail. 



* See Insect Architecture, p. 403. 



