﻿The family to which this insect belongs is remarkable for the 

 large portion of individuals that appear without wings, which 

 has led to a variety of opinions. Tiie questions hitherto have 

 been whether the apterous specimens of Felia, Hi/drometra, 

 and Gem's were perfect insects or pupa^, and if perfect, whe- 

 ther they were distinct species from the winged examples. I 

 shall now add another question. Do they not undergo, like the 

 Ephemerida?, 4 metamorphoses? in which case the apterous 

 would be the penultimate state of the winged species. Tiiat 

 they are not in the imago state I should argue from the 

 great variation in the thorax, which is generally less developed 

 and sometiuies very different in form tt) the winged specimens; 

 and that they are not pujia' may be inferred from tlieir being 

 frecjuently found paired, and having no rudimentary wings. 

 From a belief that the apterous specimens were not pupte, I 

 stated on a former occasion that they probably were distinct 

 species (vide folios 2, 32, and 553), but from subsequent con- 

 siderations 1 think it probable they may be in that state which 

 I have termed Pseudimago in my memoir on the Ephemeridaj 

 and Phryganiche. 



My I'riend Mr. Ilaliday has been the first to detect Ilj/drccssa 

 pygmcca in our Islands ; lie says, " They were taken in a marsh 

 near Ik-lfast in June and September; they move on the water 

 more slowly than Telia, mostly among acjuatic plants: the fe- 

 males seem more numerous than the males, and the winired 

 specimens are very rare." 1 may adil that these are a little 

 the largest, and the a|)terous males and females difi'er materially 

 in size but not in habit ; the males are much smaller than our 

 little figure ? , and the females, the magnified appearance of 

 which is given in outline, are as large as the little figure just 

 referred to: they have a whitish sericeous band on the fore 

 part of the thorax divided at the middle, and 2 spots near the 

 base antl the abdominal segments are of the same hue, except- 

 ing down the back ; the legs are coloured like the winged spe- 

 cimens. In the males the white j)ile is not so evident. 



Mons. Leon Dufour first noticed this pretty little insect on 

 shady stagnant water round .Saint Sever in Landes, and de- 

 scribed it in the 2nd vol. of the Ann. de la Soc. Ent. de France : 

 he found some hundreds of specimens, but only 2 or 3 with 

 win<xs. 



For specimens of the beantiful Fringed Bogbean, JSlcnymi- 

 thes {Villursia) iiijmphoideSi I am inilebted to Albert Kennedy, 

 Esq., who gathered them by Woodford Bridge. 



