6896 



Insects. 



Having collected a considerable number of specimens, in all stages 

 of growth, I have been induced to examine them, with a view of 

 assisting to clear up certain points, which appear to be yet unsettled, 

 as to the metamorphoses of this curious family of insects. The result 

 I now give. 



I may premise that even so late as the end of September there were 

 specimens in apparently their earliest stage, and just disclosed from 

 the egg, as I took one not more than two lines long (I speak exclusive 

 of the forceps in these notes), which Mr. Westwood gives as the size 

 of the corresponding stage of F. auricularia. In this state it seems to 

 agree with that insect in having only eight joints to the antennae, of 

 which the second (as in all its future stages) is the shortest, and the 

 third the longest, except the basal joint. The remaining five are of 

 nearly equal length ; the fourth is similar to the third in being 

 smoother than the four last, which are of the same shape and densely 

 pubescent, as in the terminal ones of all the future stages. The palpi 

 consist of five joints as in the imago, and the prothorax, mesothorax 

 and metathorax have all the shape and are as fully developed as in 

 the perfect insect. The head and eyes are large, the latter black and 

 prominent. The abdomen consists of nine segments both on the 

 upper and under sides, and the integument is very soft, of a pale 

 brown colour, with the apical segment of the abdomen and the for- 

 ceps nearly transparent. The latter has the straight form of the 

 female insect, and the tips slightly curved. The scattered hairs 

 with which the perfect insect is furnished, both on its upper and un- 

 der surface, are also present. 



In what I take to be the next stage the length has reached 3|- lines. 

 The joints of the antennae have increased to sixteen ; the additional ones 

 have assumed something of the various proportions they are hence- 

 forward to bear. They are evidently developed after the third joint, 

 and probably at the expense of the fourth one of the first stage, as 

 the four terminal joints still retain their former shape and dense pu- 

 bescence. The segments of the abdomen are nine as before, and the 

 forceps continues of the previous shape. Towards what may be ^ 

 termed the latter period of this stage the integuments assume the 

 pitchy brown colour and nearly the consistence of the perfect insect. 



On what is apparently the next transformation the insect attains 

 the length of from 5 to lines. The antennae contain twenty joints, 

 though from this period the " wear and tear of life " renders it very 

 difficult to ascertain this precisely, as from their extreme delicacy the 

 point of junction can scarcely be seen even through a good lens; and 



