WERNER MARCHAND 97 



long spines, which are, however, shorter and stouter (especially in 

 the female) than those of Tabanus cor ax. 



Tahaniis hovinus Linne. — This is one of the commonest species of 

 the genus in Europe, the largest species in Sweden. It has a wide 

 distribution and occurs even in South Africa. 



The larvae were found by Degeer (1760) in the soil of a meadow. 

 Placed in earth which was renewed from time to time some of them 

 gave pupae. I give Degeer's original report in translation from the 

 German. 



The larvae of these flies, which have not been recorded by any one before me, 

 live in the ground, and I have described them already in the Swedish Proceedings.^® 

 When in the month of May, I turned over the earth of a meadow, I found many of 

 them, and having placed seven or eight in a jar with fresh earth which was renewed 

 from time to time, I was aware, on June 12, 1760, that one of them had turned 

 to a pupa, and had in part crawled out from the earth, being still fixed in it by the 

 abdomen. I dug for the remaining larvae, but found only three of them, which 

 pupated later, and in the same way protruded with half of their body from the 

 earth. At last I found one more small dead larva. I presume that those which 

 pupated have eaten up the others. 



The largest of these larvae (Plate 4, Fig. 59, a, c) was about W inches long, 

 and in the middle 3\ lines in diameter (as seen in the figure), very similar 

 to the larvae of the large crane-flies. The body was cylindric, of almost equal 

 diameter all along its course, narrowed and pointed at the head, twelve-seg- 

 mented, the last segment small and wart-like. 



Color whitish gray and yellowish; a number of black transverse bands formed 

 by the transverse ridges and some transverse stripes in the incisions between the 

 segments. The small head is shining brown. Under the lens the skin appears 

 also shining, and covered with very fine longitudinal ridges. 



The head is elongate, horny, bearing several parts difficult to distinguish as they 

 are constantly in motion, also with two small short antennae, some pointed parts 

 placed below, and two large horny black mandibles placed above the latter, as 

 long as the head and curved downwards. If a larva was held between the fingers, 

 it exserted the hooks, attached itself to the skin with them, and pulled the con- 

 tracted body up. Probably it burrows its way in the earth by means of these 

 hooks. While resting, the head is withdrawn into the first segment, and this in 

 turn into the second segment, so that the anterior part becomes of the same 

 diameter as the rest of the body. The two last segments can also be retracted 

 into the third last one, in a similar way. 



^® Bromsarne's Ursprung. 



