What the ???

Any gardening guru's out there could you please answer this mystery for me ....
What is this a picture of???
I found these weird 'skeletons' on my garden (top right), then I located the 'eggs' from which they hatched buried just below the mulch(front) . After an hour or so the soft skeleton shrivels up (top left).
Any ideas???

Stick and Giggle Retreat update...

Wow!!! it all happened so quickly!! It seems only last week we were counting down the months, now it's been and gone. What a fantastic program Jody had planned for us. The location at Mt Tambourine was spectacular, the company of so many of my EMM, SL and misc friends was brilliant. And the talent was just undescribable. I had a great time and cant wait till the next retreat that Jody has promised us will be in Feb 2009.
Roll on February I say!!!