Lygaide. 67 
about two dozen larvee on Circea in June, 1871, and took 
them home and placed them with the plants, which he potted. 
The next day he saw “some of them with their proboscides 
buried in the soft flower-buds ; ”? they were full fed by the 
end of August. They changed their skins three times in 
captivity ; its change of skin is described by him as follows : 
“* As the creature increases in size the skin gets too short 
for it, and the anal extremity becomes drawn up somewhat 
over the abdomen ; it now fixes itself firmly by its claws to 
a leaf or stem of the plant, head downwards, the head is 
bent under, the antenne are laid along between the legs, 
and the larva appears to forcibly straighten the abdomen, 
the pressure causing the skin behind the head to split, and 
the thorax to be protruded through the opening ; leg after 
leg is drawn slowly out, the head and antennz following ; 
the wing-cases and wings are drawn down to their proper 
proportions, the imago then remains suspended by the last 
seoment; in a short time it extricates itself entirely, but 
is some time before coming to its proper colour and 
firmness.” 
LYGAIDZ. 
This is one of the largest families of the Hemiptera and 
includes a number of genera of very diverse facies. They 
are mostly ground species, occurring in moss, rubbish, under 
dead leaves, stones, and various spreading plants; but a 
few are found by sweeping, and Gastrodes occurs on fir 
trees. 
The antenne are situated below an imaginary line drawn 
along the side of the face, from the centre of the eye to the 
apex of the head ; the elytra are composed of clavus, corium 
and membrane, the nervures of the latter being few in 
number, not exceeding five, except in Pyrrhocoris. 
The abdominal segments in the ? vary in form in the 
different subfamilies ; in the Pyrrhocorina all the segments 
F 2 
