I 271 



'm Trichoptera wliicli I have bred, in no instance has this stage extended 

 )ver more than five weeks, and ] was therefore curious to know whether 

 ve had here to do with an exception to what seemed a general rule. 

 But no ; on the 25th of January, while there was deep snow lying on 

 ;he ground, a perfect (^ of Agraylea muUipunctata appeared. The 

 equable temperature of the room, in which there was a fire kept burning 

 light and day, had no doubt the effect of "forcing ;" and it may be 

 nentioned that on the day of appearance, the hard frost that had 

 '■'t prevailed for some time shewed signs of giving way. 

 tlie I regret that I was not able to confirm what Hagen says about 

 ''^f!^;he larva. To have made a description would have involved the 

 iestruction of one of my examples, and that, with the limited materials, 

 it was undesirable to risk. But with regard to the long posterior-legs, 

 I may say other larvae, presumably Hydroptilid, possess such, and 

 3urely Pictet too strongly emphasizes the shortness of the legs in 

 his figures. 



I From the first my larvae were sluggish, and the cases were almost 

 constantly fixed by the four cables to the glass (once, one of them was 

 fixed almost totally out of the water) ; however, I did see them in 

 motion, and was able to confirm the statement that the case is borne 

 along on the angle— a habit apparently not uncommon in the family. 

 The final fixing was effected precisely as Bremi describes : the case 

 was placed on the flat and each of the corners attached to the glass 

 by means of a silken cable of many threads, which spread out at the 

 point of attachment in a fan-like way (giving rise to Bremi's 

 expressions— " Eiue gestielte facherformige Patella," and "Handchen 

 und Aermchen"). The case is of a brownish colour, but when viewed 

 as a transparency, its basis appears to be of an amber-coloured 

 substance, and round the two ends are seen to be wrought filaments 

 of Confervcd in curves, concave side inwards, and these filaments are 

 likewise carried narrowly along the sides, leaving a longish oval in the 

 centre composed of the basis-substance only. The form may be called 

 oblong ; the ends are slightly rounded, and the sides produced a little. 

 The reason of the more commodious middle part— for in addition to 

 the produced sides, the oval central part is doubtless elastic— is very 

 obvious, and I had often the pleasure of seeing the larva turn 

 I round and present its head at the end opposite to that which it had 

 just left, the revolution being made in the roomy middle part. Without 

 doubt the end openings are also elastic, and close on the withdrawal 

 of the head of the larva. Pictet gives this form of opening as an 

 universal character of the case of Hydroptilidce (Eecherches, p. 224), 



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