1905.] 151 



not touch larvse, and others did so reluctantly. The Veronica 

 Syrphid duly emerged, and proved to be the common Melnnostoma 

 mellinum, its abundance is perhaps a proof (or result) that the 

 larva is more or less omnivorous, and capable of eating rather 

 varied viands. It showed me, however, that larvse were by no means 

 an extraordinary food for Syrphids ; the chief peculiarity in con- 

 nection with X. co7ntus being that the larva is its normal food, and 

 that its instincts are such as fit it for hunting the larva) into the 

 recesses of their burrows. 



The larva of X. comtus is very like many other Si/rphus larvse I have casually 

 noticed. It is green, with lateral markings of yellow and central of brown, 

 which are due to items of internal anatomy, the skin seeming to be quite colourless 

 and transparent, or nearly so. 



The pupa is very globular, more so than any other Syrphus pupa I have 

 observed ; there is, however, a short tail ending in the posterior spiracles. This 

 pupa illustrates more strongly than usual how the dried larva skin of Syrphus, 

 when forming the puparium, expands greatly at the narrow cephalic end and 

 shrivels to a mere scrap at the wide anal end. This " pupa " varies much in 

 colouring. It may be pale green without mark or with three pairs of black dots, 

 or it may be darker. It presents for a time much of the larval yellow and brown 

 markings. The darker pupse are more opaque, and have various actual skin 

 markings. These are a brownish or reddish dorsal and lateral line, the three pairs 

 of dots noticed, are produced obliquely backwards to the dorsal line, forming arrow- 

 shaped markings, and in some the markings suffuse over the whole surface ; the 

 lateral line and the three dots are most persistent. Towards emergence the paler 

 and more transparent pupae show the contained imago with its markings curiously 

 shortened in the nearly round case. The round portion of case is 5'5 mm. long, 

 4 mm. broad, and 3"5 mm. high. A little narrower and lower posteriorly than in 

 front. 



On October 1st, 1904, I placed in a jar a ? H. hyerana, ordinary 

 form, with a dark (jnarginata) ^ , and some lupin leaves ; I did not 

 see them paired, but on October 4th I found two batches of eggs 

 laid on the side of the jar. They were not very conspicuous, and I 

 fancied one batch had been laid the previous night, and the other the 

 night before, but had escaped observation, as afterwards one batch 

 each night was the rule. The batches were each night smaller and 

 smaller, till the ? became exhausted. 



These first two batches then were the largest, supposing the Ist 

 laid on the 2nd -3rd, it measured 17 mm. X 4 mm., and had about 

 30 eggs in length, and 6 or 8 in width. Its form was a little less 

 regular than this description perhaps implies. It contained 233 eggs. 

 The 2nd laid 3rd — 4th was more compact but smaller, and 113 eggs 



O 2 



