104 [May, 



a Mycetophilid, one of which has emerged ; and on being sub- 

 mitted to Dr. Sharp is pronounced by him to be probably a var. of 

 the very variable Lasiosoma hirta. 



The larvae presented no characters that interested me, and seemed 

 to agree with descriptions of Mycetophilid larvge, with spiracles down 

 either side. The pupa, however, interested me as presenting some 

 characters very similar to those of Lepidoptera. The few pupae of 

 Nematocera of which I know anything are closely parallel to those of 

 the Lepidoptera incompleta, but in the species before us the pupa is a 

 parallel to the Obtectcs, all the segments being soldered together, and 

 the pupa incapable of movement. Similarly, whilst the Tipulidce, 

 OecidomyidcB, &c., have pupge that emerge from the puparium for 

 eelosion as the "incomplete" Lepidopterous pupa does; that of 

 Lasiosoma hirta remains in its cocoon like the " obtect " Lepidopteron. 

 In noting these facts I am probably saying what is familiar to Dip- 

 terists, but 1 do not remember noticing attention being called to the 

 parallel evolution in the two Orders. The eggs laid by this fly struck 

 me as curious, and of interest to me on account of their being pro- 

 bably instances of an adventitious coating, expanding after laying, 

 very similar to that in Micropteryx. 



The eggs (1,2) are oval (egg-shaped), and have a long diameter of about 0'34 mm., 

 and a transverse of 0'18. They are white, or with a faint straw tint. On a first 

 glance with a lens they seem to be marked 

 with a hexagonal pattern or netting, of 

 which the lines are exceedingly wide and 

 the hollows are circular. A closer exami- 

 nation reveals a much more curious and 

 elaborate structure. The circles are seen 

 to be raised and convex, and rather more 

 than their own diameter apart, and number 

 about twelve across an egg, and are there- 

 fore in diameter about 0*18 mm. -=-24^ i ^^ .>*^' /j% 

 0*008 mm. Getting them in profile towards \^-^' ' "^ 

 the side of the egg each of the convex circles is seen to be raised on a stalk, so that 

 the stalk and the summit together look exactly like a mushr?om {Agaricus) (4). 

 Any attempt to handle these eggs results in a certain amount of damage to their 

 „^^ . structures, one form of which is to remove from tlie 



— JL It- — 1' ^It — I egg a thin coating, to which are still attached these 



3 mushrooui structures uninjured. The egg surface 



/CT^ /C> <>' "=>?* ^^^^ '^^ '^f** '® smooth and glistening, and seems in 



— ^^'— - — rlj _ _ rrrrrJrr~ fact to be the egg proper. The removed coating is 



^ adventitious, and has a corky or snowy sort of texture, 



which gives rise, why is not very clear, to the idea that when laid the egg has this 



