44 Psyche [April 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF MERA- 

 CANTHA CONTRACTA (BEAUV). 



By J. A. Hyslop, 

 Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C. 



Early in the spring of 1913, while searching for the larvae of 

 Trichophorus {Ludius Latr.) about the bases of very much decayed 

 stumps on the top of the South Mountain Range near Wolfsville, 

 Md., I found many of the oddly shaped larvae of this beetle. This 

 larva is very unique, being the only North American Tenebrionid 

 with the ninth abdominal segment so formed. Candeze figures ^ 

 a very similar larva, which he determines as the larva of Tenehrion 

 sp., from Ceylon which, he states, lives under sod. The species 

 is very common and the larva has been recognized since 1849 

 w^hen S. S. Haldeman ^ briefly but lucidly described it under the 

 name Physocoelus in flatus Dej. which name he later ^ referred to 

 synonomy under Helops contractus (Beauv.). An editorial note 

 in the American Entomologist ^ refers to this larva as being found 

 in the stomach of a bluebird. More recently, H. F. Wickham ^ 

 has given a nuich more detailed description with several figures 

 of this larva. 



Larva: (PI. 4, Figs, a-j.) The body is elongate, cylindrical; tegument highly 

 chitinized, very sparsely beset with long fine yellow hairs; color reddish brown, 

 paler ventrally and posterior margins of segments darker. Head globular, bent 

 downward, mouth directed forward and downward; a pair of large inconspicuous 

 ocelli near base of antennae; front convex, finely and sparsely punctate, exterior 

 angles produced into broad lateral lobes to antennal area, frontal sutures strongly 

 curved outward; epicranial suture moderately long. Post-labrum ^ transversely 

 oblong, distinct and slightly produced, post labial suture pronounced, anterior 

 and posterior margins parallel, anterior third membranous. Labrum distinct, 

 semicircular in outline, anterior edge slightly truncate and beset with strong 

 bristles. Mandibles (Figs, d, f, g) stout but not exceptionally long, trifaced 

 pyramidal; outer face convex with a convex disc shaped area impressed on basal 

 half, a few slight transverse sulci, and a strong bristle near middle beyond impressed 



iHistoire des Metamorphoses de quelques Coleopteres Exotiques, p. 79, pi. VI, fig. 11 and 11a. 



2 Proc. Amer. Assn. Adv. Sci., Vol. II, p. 347. 1849. 



3 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, V, p. 5. 1850. 



* Amer. Ent., Vol. Ill, p. 201. 1880. 



6 Journ. New York Ent. See, IV, p. 119-121. 



• This term was first used by Lyonet in his "Traite anatomique de la Chenille qui ronge le 

 Bois de Saule. A la Haye, cd. 2, 1862," and seems very appropriate. 



