BEETLES 175 



specimens which, after having been kept and fed for 

 some months in an aquarium, died and sank to the 

 bottom, were, when dissected, found to be full of eggs. 

 The final proof of the similarity between larvae and 

 female adults by breeding has yet to be established, 

 but it may be noted that a winged female of L. ves- 

 pertina similar to the winged female of L. gorhami is 

 not known. 



The Cassididce, or Tortoise Beetles, are of con- 

 siderable interest on account of their very remarkable 

 larvae. The adults are plant-feeders, and some of them 

 are most gorgeously coloured, though the brilliant 

 hues disappear in dried specimens. The two com- 

 monest species in Sarawak are Prioptera octopunctata 

 and Aspidomorpha miliaris. The former is something 

 like a Ladybird, convex in shape, orange or yellow in 

 colour, with several black spots on the wing-covers 

 and pronotum ; the latter, which is flattened, is also 

 yellow and marked, but in a different manner, with 

 black spots. 



The larvae of Cassididce are also plant-feeders, various 

 species of Convolvulacece being a very favourite food- 

 plant of the family. Their bodies are covered by the 

 old shed skins and excrementitious matter, which are 

 attached to long, slender processes at the end of the 

 body. These processes can be turned forwards so 

 that the matter which they carry forms a sort of 

 umbrella over the larva. Some larvae also, when irri- 

 tated, have the habit of flicking the processes with the 

 attached matter at the enemy. 



Dr. D. Sharp and Mr. F. Muir * have given [pp. 2-6] a 

 detailed account of the egg-laying and larvae of some 

 1 Trans. Ent. Soc., 1904, pp. 1-21, PI. I-V. 



