1017.] 



269 



Kuwania and returned to Nassonow's genus Steingelia, which — in its 

 turn — must be removed from the subfamily Margarodiiiae. 



The apparent disappearance of the insect for two j^ears may possibly 

 indicate an unusually prolonged nymphal period. 



Way's End, Caraberley. 

 October loth, 1917. 



THE LAEVA OF BTRRHUS PILVLA L. 

 BY G. C. CHAMPION, F.Z.S. 



The larva of Bz/rrlnis pt'hila has been described at length by various 

 authors, and figured by Westvvood, Chapuis and Candeze, Ganglbauer, 

 and Keitter, but it is not veiy well known to British entomologists, or 

 mentioned by Fowler in his " Coleoptera of the British Islands." The 

 appended figures are taken from some apparently almost fullj^-grown 

 examples captured by myself in S. Devon, during 

 the past month. These Devonshire larvae agree 

 perfectly with the published figures and descrip- 

 tions of the above quoted authors, and an 

 abraded imago of _B. ^>/7;//(7 was indeed found 

 at the same place ; that of the allied B. fasci- 

 atus F., according to Xambeu (Ann. Soc. Linn. 

 Lyon, xlii, pp. 60-63, 1895), having the last 

 dorsal segment of the abdomen covered with 

 long hairs at the tip. The greatly developed, 

 coarsel}', closely punctured dorsal plate of the 

 prothorax is the chief characteristic of these 

 Byrrhid larvae, the two following thoracic segments being short and 

 soft, and like the dorsal segments 1-7 of the abdomen. The last 

 two segments of the latter are much longer and wider than those 

 preceding, and capable of being curved forward from beneath, when the 

 insect is in movement. The surface, above and beneath, is set with 

 very scattered, conspicuous, stiff hairs, which (as seen from alwve) are 

 somewhat clustered into tufts along the margins of the alxlominal 

 segments 1-7 ; these hairs are not indicated in the above-quoted pub- 

 lished figures of the larva, and they do not show clearly in the 

 accompanying illustrations, being unfortunately lost in the reproduction 

 of the photographs. The antennae, variously described as 2-, 3-, or 

 4-jointed, are very short and small, and partly hidden in the cavity 

 from which they arise, the terminal joint being slender. The mandibles 

 are bifid at the apex, and armed with two short teeth on the inner edge 



Byrrhus pilula, X 3. 



