. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. PHORIDAE 495 and attack living Insects, and even snails, though probably only when these are in a sickly or diseased condition. Tlie metamorphoses of several species have been described.^ The larvae are rather slender, but sub-conical in form, with eleven segments and a very small head, amphipneustic, the body behind terminated by some pointed processes. The pupa is remarkable; it is contained in a case formed by the contracted and hardened skin of the larva; though it differs much in form from the larva the segmentation is distinct, and from the fourt
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. PHORIDAE 495 and attack living Insects, and even snails, though probably only when these are in a sickly or diseased condition. Tlie metamorphoses of several species have been described.^ The larvae are rather slender, but sub-conical in form, with eleven segments and a very small head, amphipneustic, the body behind terminated by some pointed processes. The pupa is remarkable; it is contained in a case formed by the contracted and hardened skin of the larva; though it differs much in form from the larva the segmentation is distinct, and from the fourth segment there project two slender processes. These are breathing organs, attached to the prothorax of the imprisoned pupa; in what manner they effect a passage through the hardened larval skin is by no means clear. Perris supposes that holes for them pre-exist in the larval skin, and that the newly-formed pupa by restless movements succeeds in bringing the processes into such a position that they can pass through the holes. The dehiscence of the puparium seems to occur in a somewhat irregular manner, as in Mlcrodon; it is never Cyclor- rhaphous, and according to Perris is occasionally Orthorrhaphous ; probably there is no ptilinum. The Insect recently described by Meinert as Aenigmatias hlattoides," is so anomalous, and so little is known about it, that it cannot at present be classified. It is com- pletely apterous; the arrangement of the body-segments is unlike that of Diptera, but the antennae and mouth-parts are said to be like those of Phoridae. The Insect was found near Copenhagen under a stone in the runs of Finnniva. fusca. Meinert thinks it possible that the discovery of the male may prove Aenigmatias to be really allied to Phoridae, and :\Iik suggests that it may be the same as Platyphora luUocki, A^errall, known to be parasitic on ants. Dahl recently described a wingless Dipteron, found living as a parasite on land-snails in the Bismarck archipelago, under the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1895
