144 FIFTH ANNUAL KEPORT 



fish-bait, and is called by fishermen a "crawler" or "hellgrammite.'' 

 It can pinch with its formidable-looking jaws, but not forcibly enough 

 to draw blood. Mr. Walsh mentions a most curious incident in con- 

 nection with its larval wandering,*' which I quote in full: 



"A most respectable man, who keeps the toll-bridge over Rock 

 River, where this insect is very abundant, informed me that on seve- 

 ral occasions its larvas had fallen down one of his chimneys. His idea 

 was that they must have bred there, but that, of course, is out of the 

 question. The statement was confirmed by his wife, and I have no 

 doubt of its truth. In 1863, 1 threw a larva of this insect into the 

 Mississippi to examine into its customary mode of progressing in the 

 water, which, as I found, was by crawling along the bottom, not by 

 swimming. As it emerged from the water, it climbed with ease up 

 the stump of a large white elm, which was stripped of its bark, and 

 as smooth as any carpenter could have planed it. The stump was 

 three feet high and upright, and when it had reached the top it com- 

 menced descending on the opposite side; but, after awhile, lost its 

 foothold and fell into the water again. The pair of 2-clawed appen- 

 dages at the tail are used with much efi'ect to assist it in climbing. 

 The building which it must have climbed to reach the chimney, down 

 Avhich it is stated to have fallen, was only a low, one-story wooden 

 one." 



In preparing for the pupa state, this larva burrows into the earth, 

 where it forms. an oval cell, or hides under some large stone, piece of 

 wood or other substance. Here, in about two weeks, it casts its tough 

 [Fig. 71] larval integument, and assumes the form of figure 



71, lying in a curved position in its cell, with the 

 head, wing-pads and legs deflexed on the breast. 

 Figure 69, &, was made from a spread and straight- 

 ened skin before I had become acquainted with the 

 living larva; and though it does not convey a truth- 

 ful impression, will serve to better display the ap- 

 pendages. The color is yellow, with traces of the 

 brown mottling of the larva, rudiments of the lateral 

 appendages, but not of the spongy masses, and a few 

 hairs scattered over the exposed parts. The spiracles are more con- 

 spicuous, and the upper jaws stronger and olive-green. The pupa 

 state lasts but a few days, and the perfect insect issues during the 

 month of July. It is nocturnal in habit, and hides, for the most part, 

 in obscure places during the day. It is sluggish at this time, and, if 

 approached, will drop sooner than fly, or raise its head and abdomen, 

 and open its jaws menacingly. 



There is no perceptible sexual difference in larva or pupa, unless 

 it is, as stated by Haldeman,f in the rather larger size of the jaws of 

 the male. This similarity of the sexes, especially in the pupa, is the 

 more remarkable that in the imago state they differ so greatly. The 



»Proc. Phil. Ent. Soc, Vol. II, p, 265. 



t History and Transformations of Corydalus cornutus , by S. S. Ilaldeman, A.M., communicated 

 to the "American Academy of Arts and Sciences," Nov. IStli, 1S48. In this paper the transtormations 

 of the species are for the first time given, and the anatomical structure "vvell illustrated. 



