1910 



EXTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



81 



The ovipositor of tlie Domestic Cricket has a divided sheath — each half of it 

 having a spoon-shaped termination. When closed these terminals hold tihe egg, 

 as in a casket, till a fitting nook for its deposit is reached ; and then, they open 

 and discharge it. 



The cat shakes the eggs of the fleas that infest it into the lap of its mistress, 

 or upon the rug on which it sleeps. The larvaB of Pulex serraticeps feed upon the 

 particles of food that they find in the cracks of the flooring of the dwelling-place — 

 but if the sheep-tick were to lay eggs that could be shaken from the wool of the 

 sheep, her progeny would perish. Against such a contingency she retains her 

 young till it reaches the pupal stage. The abdomen of the tick is unsegmented, 

 and vellumy, and therefore very strong. 



The Larva. The resemblance by which some species of Lepidopterous 

 larvae deceive their foes, and the threatening attitudes assumed by others, to drive 

 their enemies away, are very familiar to all of us. But the very remarkable pro- 

 vision for the safety of the larvae of Harrisimemna trisignata is not so well known. 



And here we must call to mind that many caterpillars — those of H. trisignata 

 among them — when undergoing the usual moult, withdraw the head from its old 

 case, at its junction with the second segment — at the neck-opening — as a knight 

 of old withdrew his head from the helmet. I raised a brood of larvae of Anisota 

 virginiensis last season. With them the head case was hard and black; but the 

 head when it was withdrawn was soft and green. However, it speedily became 

 rigid and dark as before. 



Fig. 19. HaiTisimemua trisignata. (Walker). 



Now in the case of the grotesque larva of H. trisignata (Fig. 19)) on the 

 thoracic segments there are some long stiff hairs which seem to have lain under 

 the skin before the previous moult, and to have been attached, by their tips, to 

 the inner side of the head cover. When the change of skin took place the hairs 

 were erected, retaining their hold upon the head-case. At the slightest disturb- 

 ance the larva agitated the bristles and the attached case is swung backwards and 

 forwards with great rapidity. 



I raised this insect some years ago, and subsequent observation has con- 

 vinced me that we may see in this a natural provision, to protect the larva from 

 troublesome ichneumons. 



