reason to believe that he looked upon them as having func- 

 tions different from those attributed to it in B. pisormti. In 

 any case Lefroy^, apparently on Chittenaen's authority, has 

 stated in regard to Bruchid larvaj generally that "the larva 

 is provided with three pairs of incomplete but functional legs 

 as well as a series of thoracic plates which enable the Vdiva to 

 bore into the seed and establish itself." Fletchex'- also 

 appears to attribute a share in the excavation to the chiti- 

 nous process of a free living form P. chinensis as he calls it. 

 He states "that the young newly hatched grub is slender, 

 darkish-coloured and hairy with long slender thoracic legs 

 and a well-developed pro thoracic plate which is armed with 

 peculiarly sharp toothed edges which help the grub to bore 

 into the shell of the pod which the grub at once proceeds to do 

 and then eats its way into the seed." 



The quotations given above are with reference mainly 

 to the free-living forms. We have not yet had an opportunity 

 to study fully the process of penetration in the various free- 

 living forms ; but if we may judge from the analogy of the 

 forms examined, any share in excavation, as is suggested by the 

 quotations given above, for the chitinous process in the 

 former, is highly problematical. The apparatus is situated 

 immediately behind the head before the thoracic prominence 

 begins. In case the larva is supposed to work with the chi- 

 tinous process in the normal way, i.e., ventrally, the hood 

 in which the process is situated has to travel over the head 

 down below, so far indeed that it will pass over the mandi- 

 bles. On the other hand, if the larva works on its back, 

 which is what one is likely to be led to expect from the in- 

 verted position in hatching, the chitinous process will, in its 

 work, encounter the thoracic prominence which will prove 

 thus a serious obstacle. Furthermore, the mandibles are 

 far more powerful than the chitinous process which is very 

 slender. It appears to us, therefore, that the function of 

 the chitinous pxocess in Bruchid larva cannot be very different 

 in the various species from what has been described, at least 

 in those species in which the eggs are laid flat on the surface 

 of the seed and are attached to it. 



In any case, in the light now thrown on the process of 

 excavation in P. chinensis, the behaviour of the post-em- 

 bryonic larvae of other species has to be examined, more 

 especially of the free-living forms. The chitinous structure 

 appears to vary a great deal. For each one of the species 



K Lefroy. Indian Insect Life, Page 350. 

 . Fletcher. Some South Indian Insects, Page 307. 



