MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 697 



out of another. Cannibalism of this kind is not the least of our difficulties in 

 rearing Lepidoptera and is quite frequent in Noctuids. There is reason to 

 think it occurs commonly also in Pyralids in nature, particularly in the boring 

 species ; we know that many eggs of Chilo and Scirpophaga are laid on a shoot 

 of cane ; we know that these hatch and many larva? descend into the shoot 

 and are found there together while young, but only one survives eventually 

 and we have been unable to decide what happens to all the remainder ; some, we 

 know, migrate, but in no case has it been satisfactorily shown that all did, and 

 my personal opinion is that a good deal of cannibalism goes on. It is probably 

 quite a common thing in nature under these circumstances, only we cannot see 

 it, 



H. MAXWELL-LEFKOY. 



Posa, 19th May 1908. 



No. XXXL— ALLEOED SHOWERS OF WORMS. 



Of late various specimens of worms have often been sent for identification 

 to our Society from different parts of the country, the senders in most cases 

 seating the natives believe they have fallen in showeis from the skies. 



These worms belong to two classes and are generally of two genera, — Mermis 

 and Gordius. 



Mermis belongs to the Mermithidce, a family of the Nematode class. 



The adult sexual form is frequently found in great numbers in damp earth 

 or climbing up the stems of plants after a heavy rain storm, especially in the 

 early morning. Being a Nematode worm it has a pair of lateral lines, the oral 

 papilla? are six in number ; the males possess two copulatory spicules, and 

 numerous aboral papilla? arranged in three rows. The eggs are laid in moist 

 earth, the larvae, on being hatched make their way into the body of a 

 grasshopper or locust and feed on the fat-body of their host. On the death of 

 the insect, or perhaps before it, they make their way into the gut and escape 

 by the anus. 



It is amazing what a number of these large worms can be accommodated by a 

 locust. In Assam I have seen the great majority of a flight of locusts inhabit- 

 ed by these worms, the weight of those that escaped exceeding that of their 

 host whose body was reduced to a mere shell. 



A flight of locusts perishing during the night giving posthumous birth to a 

 host of worms will very naturally be looked on as a supernatural " shower of 

 worms" by uneducated observers. Especially will this be so when the death 

 of the insects is due to inclement weather. 



A district in which these worms have not before been observed may be sud- 

 denly invaded by a flight of infected locusts. The worms will escape without 

 attracting notice and hide in the soil. Should a heavy shower fall during the 



