1915.] F.H.GrAvety: Indian Insects, Myriapods, etc. 531 
exposed to light by turning over the stone on which it is 
resting , instead of at once trying to escape it crouches close 
down upon the stone as already noted, and remains motionless 
for a time, no doubt trusting to its inconspicuousness when in 
this position for safety. When eventually it darts round to the 
under side of the stone this may be due to its preference for 
an inverted position and not necessarily to its dislike of light. 
A touch from a foreign body upon the antenniform legs or 
other part of the animal instantly puts it to flight. That Phryni- 
chus is sensitive to light, however, becomes inconveniently evident 
as soon as one attempts to study its habits; and I am inclined to 
believe that its sight is of use in seeking for prey, though I have 
not been able to apply any conclusive test of this. 
All Indian and Ceylonese species probably breed at about the 
same time of year.! I first found egg-laden females of P. ceylonicus, 
variety pusillus, on July 20th at Peradeniya, but the eggs were all 
well advanced in development. This was also the case with similar 
specimens of variety gracillibrachiatus found at Nalanda a week 
later. The embryos are carried under the abdomen, where they are 
supported by a membrane secreted for the purpose. All egg-laden 
specimens kept in captivity died before the young were hatched, 
but it is probable that the maternal habits closely resemble those 
of Charinides, which are described below. The number of eggs 
carried by a female Phrynichus appears to be about fifteen for P. 
ceylonicus variety pusillus, about 40 for variety gracillibrachiatus 
and about 60 for P. ceylonicus, s. str. 
Charinides bengalensis breeds in July and August, and some- 
times earlier. A specimen in captivity produced eggs on June 26. 
An egg-laden female, caught on Aug. 29 and kept in captivity, 
hatched its young on Sept. 23. These were sixin number. Before 
the evening of the day on which they appeared all of them had 
freed their appendages and climbed on to the dorsal surface and 
sides of the abdomen of the mother; they were entirely white, 
though their bodies became faintly darker next day, and their 
second appendages lacked the characteristic spines of the adult. 
Two or three eggs which failed to hatch remained for a time 
attached to the abdomen of the mother as before. On the night 
of Sept. 27-8 all six of the young ones cast their skins; they then 
assumed a distinctly greenish colour, and the characteristic spiny 
armature of the second appendages appeared. The young and 
their cast skins remained upon the mother during that day, but 
by the next morning the former had wandered away by themselves, 
and the latter had disappeared. 
Immediately after the first moult the carapace is a little 
over I mm. in width. From a series of over twenty specimens 
| P. nigrimanus appears to breed somewhat later than some others. I failed 
to find any ovigerous females at Barkul in Orissa when I went to look for them at 
the beginning of August, and saw no young ones likely to have been newly 
hatched, 
