CHAPTER III 



THE PRIMARY LARVA OF THE SITARES 



NOTHING new happens before the end 

 of the following April. I shall profit 

 by this long period of repose to tell you more 

 about the young larva, of which I will begin 

 by giving a description. Its length is a 

 twenty-fifth of an inch, or a little less. It is 

 hard as leather, a glossy greenish black, con- 

 vex above and flat below, long and slender, 

 with a diameter increasing gradually from 

 the head to the hinder extremity of the meta- 

 thorax, after which it rapidly diminishes. Its 

 head is a trifle longer than it is wide and is 

 slightly dilated at the base; it is pale-red 

 near the mouth and darker about the ocelli. 

 The labrum forms a segment of a circle ; 

 it is reddish, edged with a small number of 

 very short, stiff hairs. The mandibles are 

 powerful, red-brown, curved and sharp; 

 when at rest they meet without crossing. 

 The maxillary palpi are rather long, consist- 

 ing of two cylindrical sections of equal length, 

 the outer ending in a very short bristle. The 

 jaws and the lower lip are not sufficiently 

 46 



