28 



[July, 



work referred to, Mr. McLaclilaii, while still retaining them as forming 

 a Section of the same Family, pointed out that observations made by 

 Brauer and Erauenfeld on the habits of the larva of Berceodes, ren- 

 dered it practically certain that the proper location of the Section was 

 in the Leptoceridce ; and in the Supplement, part ii, p. Ixiii, and the 

 Systematic Catalogue, the transfer of the two genera to the beginning 

 of the latter Family is carried out. Frauenfeld bred Berceodes minuta ; 

 but no description of the larva appears to have been published, and 

 the following notes, may, therefore, be of interest as confirming and 

 supplementing what is already known on the subject. 



On the 22nd March last, I found at the bottom of a small stream i 

 near here, at a place where Berceodes occurs rather commonly in the 

 month of June, a number of small blackish cases, agreeing well with 

 the indications given in the "Eevision," and tenanted by larvae having 

 very long posterior legs. Half-a-dozen of these I took home andl 

 placed in a vessel having a quantity of river-sand in the bottom, ini 

 which a species of aquatic grass was growing. The larvae got on well, , 

 increasing in size, as was evidenced by the slight additions made toD 

 their cases, and on 6th of May one fixed itself amongst the root-fibress 

 of the grass, and by the 15th all had "spun up," either in the sameu 

 way as the first, or on the sides of the vessel. 



On the 29th March, I had obtained a few more cases, which were 

 sent to my friend Mr. King of Glasgow. These, probably owing too 

 the influence of a higher mean temperature, made much more rapid 1 

 progress than mine, spinning up nearly a fortnight earlier ; and onii 

 the 21st May he had the satisfaction of breeding ^ and ? of Berceodesi 

 minuta. My first specimen, a (^, was bred on 4th June, and sincec 

 then several others have appeared. 



Further, at the beginning of the present month, I procured aa 

 grass-root literally black with a multitude of cases, and numerouaa 

 examples of the insect have been bred therefrom. 



The larva agrees with those of the species belonging to the typi-i- 

 cal section of the Leptoceridce, in having the posterior legs of greatt 

 length, but in other points of structure it differs considerably. In as 

 larva which I believe appertains to Leptocerus aterrimus, the head and(] 

 first two thoracic segments are very narrow ; Berceodes, on the otheii 

 hand, has these segments robust and broad, almost as broad as thee 

 segments which follow. The first three segments (including the head)) 

 are chitinous, and beset with hairs : the head rather large, broadlyy 

 ovate; pro-thorax very little broader than head, almost quadrate:; 



