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f 
“Flax-seeds,” Chrysalis-cases, or Puparia. 
These were from one up to sometimes three or four 
in number, usually only one or two; they were invariably 
set upright (not lengthwise across the stem), and some¬ 
times, but not always, were fixed at the lower end by 
being a little embedded in the straw. The “ flax-seeds ” 
were for the most part the sixth of an inch long, of a 
spindle or long oval shape, somewhat slightly flattened 
on one side, and more so on the other; the two 
extremities bluntly pointed, one conical, the other, 
which is the anterior end, usually slightly bent forward 
with a pinch across the “ flax-seed” near the end, as if 
the flattened side had been bent in almost against the 
other side by a nail. The colour was at first of various 
shades of chestnut, from quite light to full brown, and 
both in colour and in shape the cases had a strong 
resemblance to the flax-seeds from which they take their 
name, except in being narrower. This brown case is 
the hardened skin of the maggot, and in this puparium, 
or pupa-case, the maggot changes first to the pupa and 
thence to the perfect fly; at the earliest part of the 
observation the transverse lines show¬ 
ing the divisions of the segments of 
the maggot were still noticeable, but 
gradually, as the skin hardened, it 
contracted lengthwise, and the trans¬ 
verse lines wholly or almost entirely 
disappeared, and instead of these the 
flax-seed was marked with parallel 
lines. The first specimen in which 
I noticed these running along it from 
one end to the other was sent me 
from Ware on the 28th of August. 
The figure is taken from two of my own specimens in 
different stages of development at the beginning of 
October. 
No.2.—“Flax-seeds ” 
or Puparia, in different 
stages of development, 
nat. size and mag. 
