52 ME. NEWPOET ON THE EATUEAL HISTOEY 



the water added to the interior of the tube. The proper food of 

 the larva was ascertained first, I believe, by Eogerson (Philos. 

 Mag. vol. lviii. p. 63), who is quoted by Murray, in the year 1826 ; 

 it was afterwards pointed out by M. Maille in the ' Bulletin Soc. 

 Phil.,' Feb. 1826, also in the ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' 

 vol. vii. p. 353, and since then by a writer in the ' Penny Cyclopaedia.' 

 The fact has since been re-stated and established with additions, 

 by Eennie, in 1831*. Eogerson stated that the larvae "feed on 

 small snails, and the carcases of insects, &c." 



At the end of eighteen days the larvae were still very active, and 

 had grown considerably, but had not yet shed their skins ; they 

 had been fed during the interval on portions of a snail. On the 

 following day (August 26th), or nineteen days after hatching, one 

 specimen underwent its first change in casting off its skin, but 

 exhibited no change of form. "When the larva first escapes from 

 the egg^ the only change it experiences is that of colour : it be- 

 comes of a deep grey-black, with the margin and posterior angles 

 of the segments of a whitish colour, and with a distinct white line 

 along the middle of the back in the line of the dorsal vessel. After 

 the first change of skin, the whole of the upper surface of the body 

 becomes of a much deeper colour ; the longitudinal line almost 

 entirely disappears, and the angles of the segments are then white, 

 and have also a reddish or flesh-coloured spot at the apex. 



On the 15th September, or nineteen days after the first change, 

 some of the specimens cast their tegument a second time, while 

 others had only then just entered their first period, although the 

 whole had been living under like conditions. I have constantly 

 noticed similar differences, and am strongly induced to refer them 

 to original imperfect impregnation of the ovum. 



I had thus traced the individuals I had watched from the egg f 

 to the second change of tegument in the middle of September, when 

 by accidents most of them died ; and 1 was forced to continue my 

 observations on other specimens which had been supplied to me 

 from their native haunts in the beginning of October. 



A full account of the habits of the Glowworm was first given in 

 the ' Bulletin Soc. Phil.,' Feb. 1826, and subsequently in the same 

 year in the ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' vol. vii. p. 353, and 

 these memoirs are attributed to M. Maille. Eogerson, however, 

 as mentioned before, had given a brief history of the insect, and 

 had already shown that it feeds on snails. A particular account of 

 the cleanliness of the larva is given in the ' Bulletin des Sciences 

 * Journal of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, vol. i. pp. 16 & 19, 1831. 



