the Life History of Trichoptilus ;paludum. 189 



cover. This renders it certain that some of the central 

 material of the plant is eaten ; but for this, my experience 

 in 1905 would have led me to suspect that the young 

 larvae fed on the leaves as those of the summer brood do. 

 The larva3 in their first instar on the leaves are often very 

 difficult to see and find, even when one is sure they are 

 there, so that in my ignorance in 1904 I might easily have 

 overlooked them. I am still inclined to suspect that it is 

 possible that in the first instar they feed on the leaves in 

 the same way as the summer brood do, and only descend 

 to the centre of the plant in the second instar. Against 

 this is the fact that the young larvae directed their wander- 

 ings to the centre of the plant, and that the centre was 

 found to have afforded a good deal of food material. The 

 note in describing one larvae, as to the presence of second- 

 ary hairs (October 22nd), and the surmise that it Avas in 

 third instar, agrees with later observations ; it is probable 

 that this larva was endeavouring to complete its cycle 

 without hibernating, and really was in third instar, as 

 second instar larva do not show any secondary hairs. This 

 larva probably perished earlier than the others. 



So the matter remained for further investigation in 

 1905. The larva, like so many of the Platyptiliid division 

 of the Plumes clearly hibernated full-grown in its second 

 instar, and ought to be discoverable in the spring in its 

 further stages. I owe it to Mr. R. South that I was 

 able to visit a locality for the species, and to continue the 

 observations in 1905. Of course I did not quite know 

 what to look for, but, as good luck would have it, the 

 discovery of the larva in the spring proved fairly easy. 



1905. May 3Lst. Accompanied Mr. South to a locality 

 in the Esher district of Surrey, where Droscra is found, 

 and where T. jKilucb/ym had been taken, and searched for 

 larva of 2\ imludum and found about a score. 



The first specimen was found seated on the under-side of 

 the petiole of a leaf of Droscra. It was nearly full-grown, 

 and was of about the length of the petiole. This will give 

 some idea of the size and state of the plants, whicli were 

 growing on peaty ground amongst heath and apart from 

 Sphagnum ; most of them were very small with the leaves 

 lying flat to the ground, the one above noted being a fine 

 specimen about twice the size of the majority. There had 

 been a drought for a considerable period before this, and 

 the ground was by no means boggy. The small size was 



