272 



HAROLD H. KING SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIONOMICS 



Egg. — Length 2 mm. Colour white, becoming darker as the embryo 

 within develops ; spindle-shaped. 



Mature larva (fig. 6). — Length 35 mm. Colour varying from pale grey 

 through dusky grey to deep chestnut brown. Mandibles dark brown to black, 

 long and powerful, slightly serrated. Anterior marghis of meso- and meta- 

 thoracic segments dark. A smooth shiny pale area on the dorsum of each 

 thoracic segment — on the prothorax this area is concave anteriorly, convex 

 posteriorly and with parallel sides ; on the meso- and metathoracic segments 

 it appears to the naked eye diamond -shaped, though sometimes it is actually 

 hexagonal. On the venter of the prothorax are two shiny pale longitudinal 

 areas, each bearing several long black hairs arising from a single pore ; 

 a similar but larger area is situated on each of the meso- and metathoracic 

 segments, bearing two similar tufts of hairs. On either side of the meso- 



Fig. 6. — Egg-mass and mature larva of Tabantis kinr/i, Austen. 



a. egg-mass, x6 ; d, lateral view of larva, x3; c, lateral view of 4th and 5th abdominal 

 segments, X6; d, posterior view of anal segment (inverted), X 6 ; e, lateral view of anal 

 pseudopod. 



and metathoracic segments are three longitudinal areas, not extending 

 to the margins of the segments, longitudinally and deeply striated. On the 

 anterior margins of the meso- and metathoracic segments on either side 

 are four paler lines extending backwards to form the divisions and edges 

 of the three striated areas. On the anterior third of each abdominal segment 

 except the eighth is a ring of pseudopods, eight in each ring, — tw^o dorsal, 

 two lateral, four ventral — except on the first segment where the dorsal pair 

 is wanting. The dorsal pseudopods are never well developed, and with the 

 exception of those on the fifth (hg. 6, c), sixth, and seventh segments, are 

 unprovided with hooks. The lateral and ventral pseudopods are very long 



