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"Flax-seeds," Chrysalis-eases, or Puparia. 

 These were from one up to sometimes three or four 

 in number, usually only one or two ; they were invariably 

 set upright (not lengthwise across the stem), and some- 

 times, but not always, were fixed at the lower end by 

 being a little embedded in the straw. The " flax-seeds " 

 were for the most part the sixth of an inch long, of a 

 spindle or long oval shape, somewhat slightly flattened 

 on one side, and more so on the other ; the two 

 extremities bluntly pointed, one conical, the other, 

 which is the anterior end, usually slightly bent forward 

 with a pinch across the " flax-seed" near the end, as if 

 the flattened side had been bent in almost against the 

 other side by a nail. The colour was at first of various 

 shades of chestnut, from quite light to full brown, and 

 both in colour and in shape the cases had a strong 

 resemblance to the flax-seeds from which they take their 

 name, except in being narrower. This brown case is 

 the hardened skin of the maggot, and in this puparium, 

 or pupa-case, the maggot changes first to the pupa and 

 thence to the perfect fly ; at the earliest part of the 

 observation the transverse lines show- 

 ing the divisions of the segments of 

 the maggot were still noticeable, but 

 gradually, as the skin hardened, it 

 contracted lengthwise, and the trans- 

 verse lines wholly or almost entirely 

 disappeared, and instead of these the 

 eo flax-seed was marked with parallel 



N - 2 -. "^ax-seeds" ii neg . The first specimen in which 

 sfagefof'development I noticed these running along it from 

 nat. size and mag. one end to the other was sent me 

 from Ware on the 28th of August. 

 The figure is taken from two of my own specimens in 

 different stages of development at the beginning of 

 October. 



