( lxxii ) 



Mr. R. Shelford exhibited the larva? of Collyris emargin- 

 atus, Dej., and of Mormolyce, and read (he following notes : — 

 "In ' Mededeelingen uit 'Slands Plantentuin,' xliv, 1901, 

 p. 113, Dr. J. C. Koningsberger, of the Buitenzorg Zoological 

 Museum, publishes a brief notice of the larva of the Cicindelid 

 beetle, Collyris emarginatus, Dej., burrowing in the twigs of 

 coffee-shrubs. I noticed a preparation illustrating this remark- 

 able habit for a Cicindelid larva in the museum at Buitenzorg 

 in March of this year, but it was inside a locked case, and as 

 Dr. Koningsberger was on leave in Europe, I was unable to 

 make a close examination of the larva and its burrow. In 

 answer to a request for material and information on the 

 species, Dr. Koningsberger has kindly sent me the specimens 

 which I now have pleasure in exhibiting to this Society. Dr. 

 Koningsberger tells me that the larva feeds on the ants and 

 aphides that crawl over the coffee-twigs ; pupation takes place 

 in the burrow ; ovipositio# has not been witnessed, nor have 

 any but full-grown, or nearly full-grown, larva? been found, so 

 that it is not known if the burrow is enlarged to allow of the 

 increase in size of its occupant, or if it is originally made large 

 enough to accommodate the larva throughout its life. A 

 figure of the larva is published in the above-mentioned work 

 (Fig. 59), but it is evidently only a copy of the figure of a 

 Cicindelid larva in Packard's " Guide to the Study of Insects," 

 and is quite inadequate. The Collyris larva differs from the 

 larva? of the British Cicindelx by its flattened femora, small 

 size and more cylindrical body ; the tubercles of the fifth 

 abdominal segment bear a comb of three or four short teeth 

 instead of one long hook, and these combs are better adapted for 

 getting a purchase on the walls of a wooden burrow than 

 would be the long hooks of some sand-burrowing Cicindehv. 

 I intend to make a careful and critical study of the mouth- 

 parts ; as it is certainly unusual to find a predaceous larva 

 with mouth-parts qualified to excavate burrows in wood. The 

 mouth of the burrow is countersunk, and Mr. A. II. Hamni 

 informs me that the same feature can be seen in the sand- 

 burrows of the British Cicindelce. I have no doubt but that 

 the lower surface of the head of the Collyris larva fills com- 

 pletely the orifice of the burrow when the insect is awaiting 



