WERNER JIARCHAND 95 



At first they were fed on tiny crustaceans dredged from rain pools, 

 but during transit, when these could not be obtained, scraps of 

 freshly killed raw meat and congealed blood from the bodies of 

 gorged mosquitoes were substituted. After arriving in Khartoum 

 their diet consisted of earthworms, ■ as a plentiful supply of these 

 could always be procured. 



They grew very slowly and at greatly varying rates. Two larvse 

 hatched from one egg batch on June 11 measured respectively, five 

 weeks later, 4 mm. and 15 mm. Owing to their telescopic nature 

 it was exceedingly difficult to measure them accurately, so the figure 

 must be taken as merely approximate. They did not appear to be 

 cannibalistic in their habits, as several of various sizes were reared 

 in the same dish and sometimes kept short of food, but were never 

 seen to attack each other. When one died, however, its comrades 

 usually devoured it. When not feeding they spent most of their 

 time buried in the sand, with just the tips of their respiratory syphons 

 showing. If the sand was allowed to dry they became very restless, 

 and would make continual efforts to escape from their jars until 

 water was given them again. 



Early in August, when they were about eight weeks old, they ceased 

 feeding and were then transferred to jars containing sand to a depth 

 of 6 cm. They descended to the bottom of these jars and were still 

 there when, about six Vv^eeks later, the author went to England on 

 leave. 



On January 28 King returned to Khartoum, and it was found that 

 the jars then contained several dead adults — all males — a few dead 

 pupae and larvae, and a single live larva. This last died early in 

 February without having reached the pupal stage. The empty pupal 

 cases were all sticking up out of the sand, the pupae having evidently 

 worked their way up from the bottom of the jars by means of their 

 abdominal spines. In several instances the old larval skin had 

 remained attached to the caudal teeth of the pupal case. 



Neave (1915) also found the larvae of this species in the valley of the 

 lower Shire and its tributary, the Mwanza, in southern Nyasaland. 

 Here, in the sand and mud on the banks of the rivers, large num- 

 bers of larvae were obtained, of which the majority belonged to this 

 species, and these were chiefly found in mud among the Phragmites 



