X. NOTEvS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF 



SOME INDIAN ASCALAPHIDAE 



AND MYRMELEONIDAE. 



By F. H. Gravely and vS. Mauuk. 



[N.B, — The plate (v) illustrating this paper has not yet been 

 received from Europe. It will be published in the next 

 number of these " Records."] 



Circumstances of Capture. 



The three species of Ascalaphid and Myrmeleonid larvae des- 

 cribed in this paper differ in habit from all larvae of these families 

 whose habits have hitherto been described, in that they neither 

 cover themselves completely with a cloak of debris in order to 

 conceal their real nature from the insects on which they prey nor 

 hide themselves under stones or in the ground, l^ut live upon tree- 

 trunks in hollows and crevices of the bark where the Ascalaphid 

 larvae at least are rendered sufficiently inconspicuous by their 

 form and colour alone (see plate v, figs. 2 and 3). The larvae of 

 Myrmeleon contractus, Walk,* (figs. 5 and 6), were found by Mr. Paiva 

 on December 20, 1909, at Bhogaon, Purneah District, Bengal, upon 

 the trunks of some mango trees which were coated with dried mud. 

 One specimen was found hidden in an actual pocket in this mud 

 coat, from which only its jaws projected each in its own close- 

 fitting groove ; but all the rest (5 or 6) were lying on the surface, 

 in at most a shallow depression, where, being somewhat pale 

 in colour, they were seen without much difficulty. The larva 

 (of an Ascalaphid) which has not yet been identified with any adult 

 form (fig. 4) was obtained at the same place two days later on 

 another mango tree with dark-coloured bark not plastered with 

 mud, but hung with cobwebs and the debris which they catch. 

 This specimen was found in a hollow of the bark where it was 

 very hard indeed to discover. The Pseudopiynx larvae (figs, i — 3) 

 were found by Dr. Annandale at Igatpuri in the Bombay Presi- 

 dency on November 20, 1909. One of these was found b}' 

 day on the rough bark of a tree-trunk where it was very incon- 

 spicuous, and two more were found on a recentl}'' whitewashed 

 wall at night. In both cases the larvae were perfectly still when 

 found. 



I Our thanks are due to Prof. J. G. Needham, who is preparing an account of 

 the Indian Neuroptera, for the identification of the mature insects reared from the 

 larvae dealt with in this paper. 



