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TEXT-BOOK OF ENTOMOLOGY 



together with those of the Staphylinidae, with their flat body, big 

 mandibles, and well-developed maxillse, to the cylindrical bodies of 

 such larvse as those of Dermestes and Anthrenus, which live a more 

 sedentary life, to the root-feeding wire- worm or elaterid larvae, and 

 scarabaeid grubs, onward to the phytophagous Chrysomelidse, with the 



FIG. 563. Prodoxii cinereus : a, apodous larva; b, head and prothoracic segment; c, anal 

 hooks ; d, pupa ; , cast pupal shell protruding from stalk of Yucca ; /, female ; g, side view of tf 

 clasper. After Riley, from Insect Life. 



mining and boring buprestids and cerambycids, in all these forms 

 we see a gradual atrophy of the legs, which is fully carried out in 

 the vermiform or maggot-like larva of the weevils. These changes 

 throughout the members of the entire order are epitomized in the 

 life-history of the Meloidae, in which there are three typical forms 

 of larva: the Campodea-form (triungulin stage), cruciform (second 

 or carabidoid stage), and vermiform (coarctate) larva. 



In the Lepidoptera the cruciform, pedate type is adhered to 

 throughout the order, with the rare exception of the nearly apodous 

 mining larva of Prodoxus (Fig. 563, a), Phyl- 

 locnistis, and Nepticula, which have no thoracic 

 legs, and the limacodid larvae, whose abdominal 

 legs are totally aborted, while the thoracic ones 

 are much reduced (Fig. 564). 



In the Hymenoptera the phytophagous forms 

 are cruciform, while by the agency of the same 

 factors as already mentioned, i.e. a sedentary or parasitic life and 

 abundance of food within constant reach, the larvae lose their legs 

 and become vermiform. 



FIG. 564. Larva of 

 Limacodes sritjifKt, nut. 

 size. 



