31 



rently only eleven segments, tlie first of which La the longest, and is 

 nearly as long as wide; the last segment is rounded behind, ami is des- 

 titute of a projection of any kind; the body is thinly clothed, with 

 rather long yellowish and dark-brown hairs, and in tin- older individu- 

 als each of the last three or four segments bears a transverse pair of 

 short, brush-like tufts of black hair, which are wanting in tin* younger 

 individuals; the head is nearly as wide as tin- first segment of the 

 body, is of a reddish brown color, and i< thinly covered with rather 

 long reddish hairs. This larva attains a length of about ♦r"'". and 

 the pupa is formed within the old larval skin, the latter simply split- 

 ting open along the back. The larva- are found during the greater 

 portion of the year, and are quite frequently met with among the dead 

 leaves and other debris lying in the crotches of orange trees. I have 

 bred the beetles in June and also in December. 



On the 17th of July, 1890, I found a larva of this kind engaged in 

 feeding upon a dead and dry moth. I also inclosed three of them in a 

 box containing a dead and dry chrysalis of the moth Timriocampa mniht. 

 and in a few days they had devoured it. I then placed in their box a 

 living chrysalis of this moth, but they did not harm it, and in due time 

 it was changed to a moth. A fresh, living chrysalis of a Tineid moth 

 which I placed in their box. however, did not fare so well: I saw one of 

 the larvae feeding upon it, and it was finally entirely consumed. I also 

 placed in their box a living chrysalis of a Codling Moth still in its 

 cocoon, and they finally guawed a hole through the cocoon, entered, 

 and devoured the chrysalis. 



The fact above recorded, that one of these larvae was found feeding 

 upon a dead, dry moth, and the further met that the larvae devoured a 

 dead dry chrysalis of a moth, but would not attack the living chrysalis 

 of the same kind of moth, is sufficient evidence to prove that these 

 larvae prefer dead and dry insects to living ones. Still, the other < 

 here recorded indicate that under certain conditions they also attack 

 the healthy living chrysalides. 



The larva of the Trogodenna quite closely resembles that of the 

 Perimegatoma above described, but is a much more robust form; the 

 body is widest at the last third of it> length, and is of a lighter, more 

 yellowish color: the short brushes of hairs on the posterior portion 

 of the body of the older individuals are also yellow instead of black. 

 1 have repeatedly found these larvae within the empty cocoons of the 

 Codling Moth, but there was nothing to indicate that they had entered 

 t he cocoons prior to the escape of the moths. and it is probable that they 

 fed only upon the empty shell of the chrysalis and the casl off >kin of 

 the larva. J placed a dead and dry Horse fly in a box containing several 

 of these larvae, and they soon attacked it and in a comparatively ahorl 

 time reduced it to a powder. I then placed in their box a living larva 

 and two living chrysalides of a Tineid moth, but they had not attacked 

 eitherof them after a lapse of six weeks. This would seem to indi. 



