Morlcy : Lijc History of Dasypolia tcmpli. 431 



entrance at \-arious heights from the ground, nj) to four feet 

 in height. Their feeding habits are exceedingly filthy, as can 

 be readily conceived. 



A few days after a lar\'a has entered, the i)lant decays 

 above the point where it is feeding, and becomes wet and very 

 putrid, and the frass which is thrust backward or upward in 

 the mine, mixed with the rotten vegetable matter, quickly 

 becomes an indescribable mess, stored in the ca^■itv abo^■e the 

 larva. 



These larvae, howe\-er, have no other option than to feed 

 head downwards. If they started at the bottom and fed up- 

 wards, they would soon destroy the tissues through which the 

 sap flows, and consequently by the quick death of the plant, 

 would deprive themselves of food ; whereas their downward 

 habit of feeding, in spite of the filth they live amongst, ensures 

 for them all the food the plant contains until they have eaten 

 the last sound particle. 



They never pupate in the mines they have made in the 

 plants. I have found three larvae in one stem, on one or two 

 occasions, and frequently two. 



These creatures are cannibals when opportunity offers. 

 They do not appear to hunt each other with an over-powering 

 desire for each other's flesh, but if two larvae are feeding in 

 one stem, one having entered at a point higher than the other, 

 the upper larva soon works a way through the frass and other 

 refuse, and straightway proceeds without further ceremony 

 to devour the one lower down. I have frequently found a 

 larva eating another of its kind in this manner. 



When a plant has been mined throughout, and the lar\-a 

 has descended into the root, there will still remain a few inches 

 of decaying stem. If this is pulled it will break off at the 

 junction of the root. 



No matter how large a cavity the larva has made in the 

 root, when not actually feeding, it entirely fills up the entrance in 

 the stem. Indeed, so tight is it squeezed into the hole, that it is 

 killed if an effort be made to extract it. I attribute this habit to 

 the fact that if they did not guard against drainage in this 

 way, they would soon ha\-e their mines filled up with water. 



Apparently, these larvae have not the power of making 

 silk. When they ha\e done feeding, many of them burrow 

 about four inches under the soil and pupate without the least 

 pretence of a cocoon. Some, however, pupate on the very 



1910 Dec. I. 



