NEOCOLLYRIS. 



231 



appeared, ou the formation of the books and appendages, and 

 quite agree with his conclusions. As no other larva of Collyris 

 appears to be definitely known it may be well to append the chief 

 points of his long and detailed description : — 



Largest specimen 12 millim. in length. The head is typically 

 that of a Cicindelid, being strongly chitinized, swollen and 

 concave beneath and flattened above; the mouth -parts are 

 prominent and point in an upward direction. The mandibles 

 are strong and curved and each bears a tooth on its inner margin 

 at the centre ; the space beyond this tooth is grooved anteriorly 

 and near it the edge is sharp. The larva is therefore plainly 

 carnivorous and not in any sense lignivorous, but is apparently 

 able to excavate an unresisting substance such as the pith of the 

 twigs in which it lives. The body consists of thirteen segments 

 and is seen at once to differ from that of a typical Cicindelid 

 larva by the absence of a marked sigmoid flexure and by the 

 absence of large. dorsal tubercles armed with strong hooks on 

 the eighth segment ; this eighth segment, however, to a large 

 extent retains its Cicindelid character, for it is swollen into a 

 hump dorsally, and the hump is furnished with three small hooks 

 on each side, and with numerous stout setse, both the hooks 

 and setse being directed forwards ; the twelfth segment is much 

 narrower and very much shorter than the preceding, and the 

 thirteenth is small and sucker-like with six short spines and 

 numerous fine setae on its posterior margin ; segments 4-12 bear 

 at the sides a small warty process or tubercle furnished with 

 three setae. The legs are moderately long, the front pair being 

 stout and adapted for digging out the pith of the twig in which 

 the larva lives ; the second and third pairs are carried with the 

 femora straight out from the body, and with the tibiae bent 

 upwards. These and the mamilliform setose tubercles at the 

 sides of the body and the armature of the eighth segment evidently 

 brace the insect in its burrow, and prevent it from being pulled 

 out of it by the struggles of larger insects which it may catch. 



The mouth of the burrow is counter-sunk (a structure which 

 has been observed by Mr. A. H. Hamm in the sand- burrows of 

 the British Cicindelid.e), and Mr. Shelford says that he has 

 no doubt but that the lower surface of the head of the Colhjris 

 larva fills completely the orifice of the burrow when the insect is 

 awaiting its prey, the jaws projecting into the counter-suuk area. 



The adult C. emarginata, according to those who have observed 

 it, is arboreal in its habits, being remarkably fleet and taking 

 readily to wing. Mr. Shelford says that in Borneo it is mimicked 

 by a flower-haunting fly of the genus Sepedon (Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1902 (2) p. 264) ; it feeds on small insects and is not herbivorous. 



The species of the genus Neocollyris are, in many cases, very 

 hard to distinguish, and a considerable number have been 

 described on very scanty' material ; this is, perhaps, inevitable 

 owing to the rarity of the members of the genus generally. At 

 present, therefore, they may be regarded as one of the most 



