196 Miscellaneous. 



so as not to be visible when the insect is viewed from above. Ab- 

 domen round and swollen, wider than the thorax, but seeming as if 

 cut oif short, the posterior extremity being turned under ; there are 

 six segments in the abdomen. Colour dark brown, almost black, 

 on the thorax, with short yellow hairs ; abdomen dark brown, with 

 a yellow band marking each segment; head black; wings hyaline; 

 halteres yellow. The tvinglets are very laige and scale-like. Eyes 

 very large, compound, occupying all the upper part of the head, but 

 not highly convex, Aatennee inserted in front, between the eyes ; 

 two-jointed, both joints very short ; the style is very long, inflated 

 near the base, narrow in the shaft and slightly dilated at the tip, 

 where there are two short bristles. ProJioscia very short, almost- 

 obsolete, conical, placed so much beneath the down-turned head as 

 to be extremely difficult to detect. Feet long and slender ; tarsus^ 

 five-jointed ; claw double, with three pulvilli. Wings with brown 

 costal and subcostal veins ; discoidal cell open ; cubital cell large ; 

 the postical vein appears to have a branch almost if not quite dis- 

 connected. Length of the body, in the usual position, nearly -i-inch. 



The eggs of this insect are very small, sooty black, truncate-ovate j 

 as stated above, they are laid iu such numbers as to cover a twig 

 with a black coating. 



The [newly hatched] larva? are very minute, about -^ inch long ; 

 dark grey or brown in colour ; elongated, narrow, tapering at both 

 ends, with twelve distinct segments, of which the fourth from the head 

 is the widest ; on each segment is a row of short fine hairs. They 

 have a wriggling mode of progression forwards, and are in constant 

 motion. The head is pointed and terminates in two very small 

 hooks, with a pad or pulvillus. The posterior extremity is also 

 acute, ending in three very minute points, with, on each side, a thin 

 curved appendage. The spiracles are only two, very minute circular 

 orifices, situated on the last segment but one. 



Both Mr. Hudson and I tried without success to procure the 

 pupae. The larva of a fly not far removed from Henops (Clitellaria) 

 is said to take more than two years before undergoing its transfor- 

 mation. 



In consideration of the fact that the larvae of the whole family 

 of AcroceridsD have not hitherto been known, and that the descrip- 

 tions of the various genera are but fragmentary, the above account 

 of Henops brunneus may be of interest. The larva would seem to be 

 perhaps more similar to those of Cecidomgia than to any others of 

 the order, though the perfect fly is quite different. 



On the Systematic Position of the Genus Hero. 

 By M. A. Vayssiere. 



Among the Opisthohranchiate Gasteropods there are some genera 

 the systematic position of which is still uncertain. Having had the 

 opportunity of capturing, in the Bay of Marseilles, two or three 

 individuals belonging to one of these genera, T set myself the task 

 of establishing their characters. 



