NEMISTRINID.E. 187 



insect, in the pine rails of fences. The eggs were found 

 in clusters and the young larvae hatched from them differ- 

 ed very singularly from those of a more mature growth. 

 They were more slender, but differed chiefly in having each 

 of the abdominal segments from the sixth to the twelfth 

 provided with a pair of false legs bearing a single elon- 

 gate seta at the tip, the hooks pointing backward; on the 

 thirteenth segment there were two pairs of similar setae, 

 the hooks of which, however, pointed forwards, thus en- 

 abling the larva to attach itself firmly and raise itself 

 erect. These young larvae issued in great numbers from 

 the burrows in which they were hatched and, placing 

 themselves erect, were blown away by the wind. Here 

 for a time they have not been followed, but it is probable 

 that they attach themselves by the aid of the ventral 

 hooks to the bodies of large-sized beetles, by which they 

 are carried into the ground when the females enter to de- 

 posit their eggs. This is probable from the fact that 

 hundreds of pupae and pupa skins were observed near 

 the fence. On searching below these the larval skins 

 were found at a depth of about two inches, and still deeper 

 were found the remains of the beetles, Rhizotrogus solsti- 

 tialis, in some instances with the larvae yet within them. 

 Females of Rhynchocephalus sackeni have been observed 

 by Bruner apparently depositing eggs in the stems of 

 Eriogonum alatum. 



TABLE OF GENERA. 

 1. Proboscis short, protruding but little from the oral opening; eyes 

 bare or pilose; two or three submarginal cells. Hirmoneura. 



Proboscis long; antennae broadly separated; eyes bare; ovipositor 

 composed of two slender lameilae; three submarginal cells 

 present (fig. 68) Rhynchocephalus. 



