WERNER MARCHAND 113 



of June. The flies are found on plants like Arum, Sagitlaria, Typha, 

 etc., on which they move about frequently with a buzzing sound. 



The eggs are deposited on the leaves of the plants mentioned and 

 others, forming circular crusts, which were seen abundantly after 

 oviposition had taken place, that is, during the whole month of 

 July, while some belated specimens may oviposit as late as August. 

 A more detailed description of egg or egg cluster is not given. 



Larvae were never found in the fall, but half grown larvs were found 

 in winter, most of them being ready to transform in April or May of 

 the following spring. 



Without insisting on the strangeness of the fact, de Guercio re- 

 ports that these larvae are so similar to those of the tipulids found 

 by him {Tipula oleracea L.) that without an accurate examination 

 it would not be possible to distinguish them. They are more robust, 

 more cylindric, but of the same color; they are in the same way pro- 

 vided with brushes of hairs on the segments of the body, but the 

 mouth-parts have mandibles of about twice the size and thickness of 

 those of the tipulids, from which they differ only by the kind of 

 velvety combs found on the clypeus and in the whole anterior part 

 of the head. The figure to which del Guercio refers, is given (Plate 

 7, Fig. 96, a, h) for comparison. The habits of these larvae are said 

 to be the same as those of the tipulids with which they are found, 

 and to behave in the same way when transforming into pupae. 



I have given this description as it is the purpose of the present 

 report to give a full account of all that is known about the early 

 stages of Tabanidae. But it may be permissible to express a reason- 

 able doubt whether del Guercio did not eventually figure two tipulid 

 larvae, having taken one of them, erroneously, to be a Tahanus. As 

 no reference is made to any previous descriptions of tabanid larvse, 

 excepting (see below) Tabanus autumnalis, and in this case also the 

 literature is not quoted, and as there is no mention of the structures 

 common to all known tabanid larvae, as the prolegs, syphon, respira- 

 tory tube, serrated mandibles, the assertion that the larva of this 

 Tabanus can hardly be distinguished from that of Tipula oleracea 

 cannot be taken seriously. 



The transformation takes place, according to del Guercio, from the 

 end of May to early June, when the larvae leave the rice fields in 

 large numbers for their metamorphosis in the dams and meadows. 



