122 THE LARVA FORM. 
machinery by which life’s varied duties are car- 
ried on. 
The larva lives in the earth, a grub easily dug 
up in the moist prairie lands; of an elongated 
sub-cylindrical form, tapering off towards each 
extremity; its colour a dingy yellow; destitute 
of feet; having a body divided into twelve 
segments, each segment being banded with a row 
of minute horny hooks—an admirable con- 
trivance, enabling it to drag itself along through 
the earth. The head is horny, and brownish- 
yellow in colour, also armed with hooks to aid in 
progression. The pupa I have never seen, but 
De Geer tells us the pupa of Tabanus bovinus is 
‘naked, incomplete, elongated, sub-cylindrical, 
with six spines at the end of the body, the 
margins of the abdominal segments ciliated, 
and the forehead bi-tubercled.’ 
Where or when the eggs of the Tabanide are 
deposited is not generally knéwn, but it is more 
than probable on the stems of plants, to which 
they are fastened by a glutinous secretion; the 
srub, when hatched, falling on the ground, at 
once buries itself. Neither is it known how long 
a time the larva remains in the earth ere it 
changes to the pupa form. 
I remember once being busily occupied all 
