62 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



able tenement, to tlie great discomfort, as we 

 may readily imagine, of the poor water-snails. 



Most aqnatic larvas s^oend the pupal period in 

 the water, and only emerge therefrom when 

 they are ready to pass into the perfect or winged 

 state. But the group to which our larva belongs 

 forms an exception to the general rule ; they leave 

 the water while they are still in the larva state, 

 and do not usually become pupae for several 

 days, or even weeks, thereafter. Nature, there- 

 fore, to meet the necessities of their, varied 

 habitats, has given them a double system of 

 I'espiration — a set of gills to breathe with in the 

 Water, and a set of breathing-holes, or spiracles, 

 to breathe with upon land. In our larva the 

 spiracles are placed iu the usual manner along 

 the sides of the body, and the gills, which assume 

 the form of a pair of paddle-like appendages, 

 are placed one pair upon each of the seven front 

 joints of the belly. After it first leaves the 

 water, the larva crawls rapidly about in the 

 night time to find a suitable place for its pupxl 

 transformation, usually selecting for this pur- 

 pose the under surface of a flat board or log, or 

 burrowing under some large stone. In pursuit 

 of this object they sometimes wander almost a 

 hundred feet from the water's edge; and we 

 have known them to crawl up the walls, and on 

 to the roof of a low one-story frame building, 

 and then tumble accidentally down the chimncj^, 

 to the great dismay of the good woman of the 

 house. At this period of their existence they 

 are much sought after as fish-bait, having a veiy 

 tough integument, so that one larva sufiftces to 

 catch several fish ; and they are called by fisher- 

 men sometimes "crawler's" and sometimes 

 '' hellgrammites." They can pinch pretty sharply 

 with their strong jaws, though not sufficiently 

 hard to draw blood ; and they also use the pro- 

 cesses at their tail as prehensile organs to aid 

 them in climbing. 



After it has selected a suitable hiding place, 

 the lai-va forms a rude cell in the earth, within 

 which it transforms into an inactive pujia (Fig. 

 56 6), with no mouth to receive food, and no 

 anus to discharge fteces. It usually leaves the 

 water about the beginning of June, and by the 

 end of that month or the forepart of July the 

 winged fly bursts from tlic shell of the pupa. 

 It should be remarked that, in Figure 56 b, the 

 wing-cases of the pupa are slightly spread apart 

 from its body to show their shape and structure, 

 but that in nature they are closely appressed, 

 though not agglutinated, as is the case with the 

 pup83 of all butterflies and moths, to the side of 

 the body. 



The perfect Flies hide themselves in obscure 



holes and cornei's during the day, and fly only 

 by night, wliich is the reason that, though by no 

 means uncommon, they are so seldom noticed. 

 The male Fly (Fig. 56 c), is remarkable for hav- 

 ing its jaws enormously prolonged, in the form 

 of the finger of a cradle, and devoid of any teeth 

 or sharp knobbed excrescences, whereas both 

 the female fly (Fig. 56 d) and the larva (Fig. 

 66 «) have short robust jaws, armed with the 

 customary teeth, and suited for offensive or de- 

 fensive measures. In the well-known Buck-bug 

 or Stag-beetle {Lucanus elaphus, Linn.), on the 

 contrary, the elongate jaws of the male are 

 armed with sharp thorns and prongs. In both 

 insects one use of these enormously long jaws, 

 exclusively found in the male sex, is to seize the 

 body of the female and thereby facilitate the re- 

 production of the species. But the body of the 

 Hellgi-ammite Fly being in both sexes of a very 

 soft consistence, Nature saw that it was neces- 

 sary that the male should have his jaws whittled 

 off" perfectly smooth, so as not to give paiu to 

 the female he was seeking to embrace ; whereas, 

 in the case of the Buck-bug, where both sexes 

 are of a very hard and shelly consistence, the 

 elongate jaws of the male were allowed to retain 

 the normal teeth, one of which teeth will be 

 noticed, in this species, to be strangely length- 

 [Fig. c7.] ened and beveled in such a manner as 

 to fit in exactly under the thorax of 

 the female and hold her as if in a vice. 

 In so elaborate and diversified a man- 

 ner does Nature adapt her plans and 

 patterns to the ever-varying conditions 

 of animated existence, and with such 

 consummate care has she provided that 

 the great fundamental Law shall every- 

 where be efficiently carried out — " In- 

 crease and multiply and replenish the 

 earth." 



The eggs of the llcllgrammite Fly 

 (Fig. 67) are oval, about tlie size of a 

 radish seed, and of a pale color, with 

 some dark markings. They are usually deposited 

 in a squarish patch upon reeds or other aquatic 

 Ijlants overhanging the water, whence, having 

 hatched out, the young larva finds a ready 

 passage into the element which it is destined to 

 inhabit until the end of the following spring. 

 "VYc have known patches of eggs to be deposited 

 upon the windows of a floating daguerreotype 

 gallery on the Mississippi river. 



US' There are probably ten times as many 

 species of insects in the whole world, as of all 

 other animals put together. Hence the Ento- 

 mologist has no sinecure office. 



