PSYCHE. 



ORGAN OF THE CAMBRIDGE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB 



EDITED BY B. PICKMAN MANN. 



Vol. I.] Cambridge, Mass., August, 1876. [No. 28. 



The Mandibles of the Larvae of Eros. 



The mandibles of all the larvae of the Coleoptera, with the 

 single exception described in this paper, as far as I am aware, 

 are in the normal position, that is, at the sides of the oral open- 

 ing, and have lateral action ; but in the larva of Eros thoraci- 

 cus, a member of the predaceous family Lampyridae, we find 

 an exception to what has hitherto been considered the rule. 



The larva is about twelve millimetres long, rather thick, 

 fleshy and grub-like, somewhat appressed ; the body at the ter- 

 minal two or three segments of either end narrows a little ; the 

 head is small and transverse. The color of the body is light 

 bright lemon, the dorsal surface of each segment having a large 

 patch of brownish yellow. The legs are short, and the motions 

 of the larva are slow and clumsy; when disturbed, it curls 

 quickly on its side, after the manner of some of the saw-fly 

 larvae. 



I give the above very abbreviated description, so that one 

 may know the larva and verify what I am about to write. 

 What larvae I have taken [ have found either in the soft de- 

 cayed wood of dead pines, or between the loose bark and wood 

 of the same trees ; but they are rarely found ; at least such is 

 my experience. 



I was desirous of breeding the first specimen that came to 

 my hands. When I began to make a description of it, I found, 

 as I thought, that the mandibles were altogether absent, and 

 that the labrum was of a singular shape, and described the lat- 

 ter, at the time, as "crescent-shaped, with the horns prominent 

 and attached to the front by a narrow portion of the base." It 



