5. Peculiar larvae of short form, spiny, and protecting their bodies by excrementitious matter attached by a special apparatus, the excrement itself being modified so as to be suitable for retention. (Cassidides.)
6. Elongate, pallid, larvae with curved abdomen; living in shell-like cases, and undergoing metamorphosis therein. (Most of the Camptosomes, the habits of which are known.)
Though our knowledge of these larvae extends to only about 100 out of 18,000 species, the above category by no means includes all the kinds of larvae; Captain Xambeu having recently discovered that the larva of Chrysochus pretiosus lives in the earth feeding on roots after the manner of a Rhizotrogus larva, which it resembles. The larva of Sagra splendida lives inside the stems of Dioscorea batatas, in swellings; the group Sagrides, to which it belongs, is a very anomalous one.
i. Eupoda. The beetles of the genus Donacia are of special interest. They form, with the genus Haemonia, a peculiar group, well represented in Europe, and also in our own country. They are all connected with aquatic plants, the species of Haemonia living entirely under water, while the Donacia live in the imago-state an aërial life, though many of them enter the water with great readiness, and, it is said, are able to take wing from the surface. The larvae live on the roots of aquatic plants, and derive not only nutriment but air therefrom; they pass several months as pupae (or as resting larvae waiting for pupation), under water in cocoons which they construct, and which, incredible as it may seem, are filled with air, not water. Exact details as to the construction of these cocoons are wanting. It was formerly absurdly supposed that the larva swelled itself out to the size of the cocoon it was about to make, and so served as a mould, subsequently contracting. The observations of Schmidt-Schwedt[[146]] make it, however, more probable that the plant itself furnishes the air which, under pressure of the water (so he supposes), fills the cocoon; the larva wounds the root, piercing to an air-vessel and then constructs the cocoon on this spot, leaving to the last moment an orifice, according to Schmidt, as an exit for the water. The larva uses a similar artifice for obtaining air; it has no gills, but is provided near the extremity of the body with two sharp chitinous processes which it drives into the root of the plant till it penetrates an air-vessel. Schmidt thinks the processes serve as conduits to conduct the air to the tracheae, but Dewitz thinks the air enters the larva in a more normal manner, by means of a stigma placed at the base of the piercing process. A similar larva exists in Haemonia; which genus is additionally interesting from the fact that the imago lives entirely submerged. It is not known how it breathes. This genus is the only member of the Chrysomelidae that does not possess the structure of the feet that is characteristic of the Phytophaga. The late Professor Babington about sixty years ago found H. curtisi at Cley on the Norfolk coast on submerged Potamogeton pectinatus, but it has not been met with there for a great many years.
The larvae of Criocerides are of two kinds, in one of which the body is peculiarly shaped in conformity with the curious habit of using the excrement as a covering. The larva is less elongate than usual, and has the anus placed on the upper surface, and formed so that the excrement when voided is pushed forward on to the Insect; here it is retained by means of a slimy matter, and a thick coat entirely covering the creature, is ultimately formed. The larva of Lema melanopa is not uncommon about Cambridge, where it feeds on the leaves of growing corn. It is a remarkable fact that even in one genus the species have some of them this habit, but others not. The species of Crioceris living on lilies—C. merdigera, e.g.—are noted for possessing it; while C. asparagi does not protect itself in this way, but emits fluid from its mouth when disturbed. This larva is a serious nuisance in some localities to the cultivators of asparagus. The eggs are deposited on the stems of the plant—as shown in our figure—sometimes in great numbers.
The perfect Insects of many of the Criocerides possess a stridulating organ. Two contiguous areas at the base of the last dorsal segment, where they can be rubbed by the tips of the elytra, are slightly elevated and bear very close and fine straight lines.
Fig. 143—Crioceris asparagi. A, Eggs in position on stem of asparagus; B, one egg much enlarged; C, young larva. Cambridge.
ii. The Camptosomes, as we have already noticed, are distinguished by a peculiar structure of the abdomen. This character appears to be connected with a very remarkable habit, viz. the formation of a case to envelop the egg. The tip of the abdomen is somewhat curved downwards, and, in the female, bears a hollow near the extremity; when an egg is extruded the female holds it in this hollow by means of the hind legs, and envelops it with a covering said to be excrementitious. When the larva hatches, it remains within this case, and subsequently enlarges it by additions from its own body. The beautiful Insects of the genus Cryptocephalus, which is fairly well represented in Britain, belong to this division. The exotic group Megalopodes is incorrectly placed in Camptosomes; the side pieces of the prothorax meet in it behind the middle coxae, as they do in Rhynchophora. The species of Megalopodes stridulate by means of an area on the base of the meso-scutellum rubbed by a ridge inside the pronotum, as in the Cerambycidæ.
iii. The division Cyclica includes the great majority of Chryomelidae; we have not less than 170 species in Britain. The larvae live, like those of Lepidoptera, at the expense of foliage, and the species frequently multiply to such an extent as to be injurious. Some of them are destroyed in great numbers by Hymenopterous parasites, the Braconid genus Perilitus being one of the best known of these; in some cases the parasite deposits its eggs in either the larva or perfect Insect of the beetle, and the metamorphoses of the parasites in the latter case are sometimes, if not usually, completed, the larvae emerging from the living beetles for pupation.