It bores through and enters the developing seed, where it undergoes a moult and becomes legless.
As growth proceeds the integument is periodically cast; and at the final moult the perfect winged insect appears.
He cites Groom's evidence that larvae obtained from the egg readily go through one moult in the aquarium, and the known fact that the last larval stage is.
Nymphs repeat the behaviour of the larvae, and finally moult into the adult, showing the generative orifice, which is the mark of maturity.
Its striated plumage also favours this view, as an evidence of permanent immaturity or generalization of form, since striped feathers are so often the earliest clothing of many of these birds, which only get rid of them at their first moult.