tZ abo’ut at held t“gethe J in colour, and the eggs are

double, green enveloped. By me in which they are

gelatinous substance,

of this gelatinous secretion, which has the capacity of resisting

water, the egg-cluster is affixed to the stem of some subaquatic

plant, and there left to be hatched in due time. The duties of

the mother Caddis-fly being then over, she perishes, either by

natural decay, or by means of some fish, which doubtlessly thinks itself deceived in having been induced to eat a mere shell of an insect, as is the Caddis after she has deposited her eggs.

When the little larvae emerge from the egg, they set to work in forming for themselves the remarkable habitations in which they pass the whole of their larval and pupal existence. Being long, soft-bodied creatures, with only the head and neck defended by a horny covering, they would fall victims to various predacious inhabitants of the water, if they possessed not the power of forming for themselves some sort of protection. Following the general rule under such circumstances, the protection in question assumes the shape of a case more or less cylindrical, and is capable of being enlarged in proportion to the growth of the inhabitant.

As has been already mentioned, these habitations are made of various materials, and are all more or less cylindrical as far as regards their interior, though in many instances their exterior departs as far as possible from that shape.

For example, one or two of the species always select dead leaves, which they fit together, face to face, so that scarcely anyone on seeing them would imagine that between the leaves was the tubular residence of a Caddis-worm. Sometimes, as in riD'ygaiMa rhomhica, short pieces of grass stems are are used, which

cut into tolerably equal lengths, and fixed across each other so as to leave a hollow in their centre. Sometimes, as in

h^ganea lunans, the pieces of grass are much longer, and laid side by side. Some species, such, for example, as Phryganea fusca use the shells of various aquatic molluscs, whiTh they fasten together without the slightest reference to the feelings of the inhabitants, some of which may be seen vainlv trying to progress in one direction, while the Caddis-worm is crawling m another. Examples of these two last-mentioned forim may be seen in Plate VIIL Fig. 8. Some species, as such

Sencostoma mulhguttatum, employ particles of sand ^ -^caJ casi

with a slight curve, very u much resembling in shape an

ordinary cow’s horn. In fact, the materials, and consequently the forms, of these remarkable habitations are so various that it is impossible to do more than briefly describe the leading varieties.

All the habitations which have just been mentioned are movable, and are carried about by the larva, just as the Hermit Crab carries its shell-house with it. There are, however. Caddis-cases which are fixed to stones, and which cannot be moved. Such, for example, are the habitations of Hydrojpsyche senex and Hydropsyche maculicomis, the former of which makes a house that is shaped very much like a leech when at rest, and is fixed by the whole of its under side to the stone. The habitation of the latter, however, is quite wormlike in shape, and often considerably curved.

In consequence of the differing form of these habitations, it follows that there must be a corresponding difference in the structure of the inhabitants. All the Caddis larvae hold themselves within their cases by means of claspers at the end of the body, and very firmly they hold, as anyone can tell who has ejected them from their habitations. But these claspers are modified in their construction according to the kind of habitation. Those larvae which dwell in movable tubes never leave them, but crawl at liberty from one spot to another in search of food. They have really wonderful powers of adhesion, and can climb smooth and hard surfaces with the greatest ease. There are now before me some larvae of Sericostoma which have crawled up the sides of a glass vessel, one or two of them having even raised themselves partially above the surface of the water. In all these species the claspers are short, so that they only permit the head and leg-bearing segments of the body to protrude beyond the mouth of the tube. But in the species which live in fixed tubes the claspers are placed at the ends of two long footstalks, so that the larva can thrust itself far out of its tube, and thus obtain a wide range wherein to procure food. Some of these creatures feed upon small aquatic larva, but the food of the greater part seems to be mostly vegetable, though all the species appear to vary their diet occasionally with animal substances. may be the species, and whatever the material of

Whatever cases, the various portions of which the habitations are

their

composed are always fastened very strongly together with a glutinous cement which has the property of hardening under

water. If one of these cases be pulled asunder, and the

severed surfaces submitted to the microscope, the cement will

be seen to have been torn into short, white threads, very much

ike the ‘ byssus ’ of certain

mussel of bivalves, such as the common oiu' sea-coasts.

When the larva is full-fed, and is about to pass into the

quiescent and feeble state of pupa, it fortifies its habitation bv

spinning across each end a network of a very peculiar coustruot \ I r Caddis-flies, and I do not

think that in any two species the network is exactly the same

In all It IS very stiff and strong, but there is iuvaffably a

tmct pattern on which the dis' meshes are arranged, and^ which ean^only be made out by the use of a tolerabl/po^erM 1:;.

the case, and, 4en faMr/u tl’ »f ^kin and assumes its pe4„t form^mT’ P"?"' ferenee as to the mode of performing species acting like the ^ larger Drao-nn of aquatic plants, while the smalle^’ crawling up the stems their cast "skins ’as shake out their newly-acquired wings to ^"in ^e

to the perfecl Wt^ a^d tlk Caddis-fly from the egg will briefly examine one or twrotW this remarkable, though small order. examples of

The first of these is the Lesst?!? Pm minor), a figure of which is given on W I This, though smaller than fhe Great Cadfr fl ^^"’ handsomer insect, beinff much irrm Caddis-fly, is really a relative. The colour of the hodv^ '^^^jegated than its larger hack of the head and thorax are lot and the The upper wings are Sensei ^ brown, variegated with a rich dark bro end of the wing forms a band stretchi, wings ’ are slightly diagonal direction, V te. 2 across sliining it, in a

and iridescent, and the antennae are pale brown barred witli the same dark line as that which ornaments the npper win^s*

On Woodcut XXVI. Fig. 2, is shown an insect which has the popular name of the Elegant Obannem {Limnephilus elegans). In the genus to which this insect belongs, the body is rounded, and the wings are narrow and rather squared at the ends. The maxilla and its palpus is shown at Fig. 6, and the labium with its palpi at Fig. a. There are nearly fifty species of this large genus, all of which have a very moth-like appearance, specially when seen on the wing or when ‘ set ’ in a cabinet.

When alive, the body of this species has a slight yellowish tinge, the upper part being blackish, and the segments being edged with whitish grey. The wings are very shining, and the upper pair are pale brown with dark nervures, and one or two dark spots and streaks. The lower pair are pearly in hue, and rather iridescent when the light falls on them in different angles.

On the same Woodcut, Fig. 4, is shown another of these curious insects, named scientifically Leptocerus ochraceus. In the insects belonging to this genus, the tibiae of the hindmost pair of legs have two spurs, and the antennae are exceedingly long and slender. The name Leptocerus alludes to this latter characteristic. It is formed from the Greek words, signifying ‘ slender-horned.’ In the illustration, the antennae are of the right length, but are too thick, especially at the base. These organs are in reality almost as slender as hairs, and even when the insect has been set and dried, the long and delicate antennae wave about with every breath of air, and give to the dead insect an air as if it were again alive. When the wings are closed, and the insect is sitting on a leaf, it bears a cm-iously close resemblance to the Long-horn moths which will be described on a futiue page. There are rather more than thirty species of this genus.

Hymenoptera.

CHAPTER I.

Saw-Flies.

We now come to one of the largest and most important orders of insects, namely the Hymenoptera, an order which comprises the insects known popularly as Saw-flies, Grall-flies, Ichneumon-flies, Ants, Wasps, and Bees. Those insects which are known as White Ants or Termites, belong, however, to a different order, namely the Neuroptera.

The characteristics of this order are well defined, and there is no difficulty in ascertaining, almost at a glance, whether an insect belongs to the Hymenoptera or not. The wings are four in number, the second pair being smaller than the first pair, and having fewer veins. They are without hair and membranous, as indeed is shown by the name Hymenoptera, which is formed from two Grreek words, the one signifying a membrane, and the other a wing. When at rest, the wings are separate, but when the insect flies, both pairs are hitched together by a series of little hooks which run along the upper edge of the lower pair, so that, for the time, the insect flies with two wings instead of four. These hooks are beautifully constructed, and should be examined with a microscope. They will be found well developed in the common wasps and bees. On Woodcut XXVIII. the wings of a hornet are shown on the left side as they appear when separated, and on the right as they are when united by the hooks. The head is armed with horny jaws, and between them lies a fleshy tongue enclosed in the maxillae, which form a sort of sheath to it. The abdomen of the female is furnished with a horny ovipositor formed of

Asatomy Of A Hy.Menortebou8 Insect. —The Honnet (Vespa Crabno).

Head and parts o£ the mouth. a. Lingua, or tongue, b b. Labial palpi. c c. Maxillary palpi. dd. MaxUlie. ec. Mandibles. //.Eyes. p p. Toruli, or beds of the base of the antennse. 7i h. Ocelli, or simple eyes ; sometimes called Stemmata. i. Clypeus. i. Labrum. 1. Epipharynx. 2. Thorax. a. Mesothorax. 66. Tegulse. c. Scutcllum. d. Prothorax. e. Postscutellum. /. Metathorax. 3. Abdomen, upper surface. 4. Abdomen, profile. 6. Head, front view. aa. Antennse. 6 6. Eyes. cc. OcelU. d. Scutellum. e e. Mandibles. 6. Thorax, under surface, a. Bed of coxoe of pro-legs. 6. Sternum. c. Bed of coxffi of intemediate legs. d. Bed of coxaj of posterior legs. e. Bed of neck. 7. Anterior, or pro-legs. a. Tarsus. 6. Tibia. c. Femur. d. Trochanter. e. Coxa. 8. Middle, or intermediate legs. 9. Hinder, or posterior legs. 10. Right wings. a. Costal cell. 6. Externo-medial cell. c. Interno-medial cell. d. Anal cell. e. Marginal cell. /. First Snbmarginal cell. ff. Second Discoidal cell. 6. Second Submarginal cell. i. Third Submarginal cell. t. Fourth Submarginal cell. 1. First Discoidal cell. m. Third Discoidal ceU. n. First Apical,cell. o. Second Apical cell. 11. Left wings separated.

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