the Life History of Trielioptllus jMluchim. 145 



the petiole near the base of a vigorous leaf on which the 

 red glands had each a large globule of gum. He walked 

 ver_y deliberately to the base of the leaf (upper side), 

 apparently spinning a web, and also searching carefully 

 from side to side. At length he arrived at the gland hairs 

 which next the petiole are deflexed down it; these he 

 carefidly examined on each side of his way even moving 

 quite to the side of his proper track, his method looked 

 as if he contemplated climbing up them. The largest are 

 about three times his length (2 mm.), but actually when 

 he reached as far as he could witliout removing more 

 than one pair of prologs from the leaf, he withdrew and 

 continued his march. At length he got nearer the middle 

 of the leaf, and found that his reaching-up process brought 

 him to the glandular top of the hair. This (the red knob 

 and transparent gum) is thicker than, and in bulk nearly 

 one-third that of the larva. I watched him demolish 

 one of these, which he did rather quickly, and make 

 considerable inroads on another. The gum, which is 

 thick and glairy and draws out into threads, was eaten ; he 

 got his legs into it, and ate the stuff off his legs and also 

 ate up the portion drawn out between them ; he did not, 

 however, appear to completely clean his legs, yet shortly 

 after they were certainly quite clean and the gum was 

 removed ; though he worked at one side only, it dis- 

 appeared also from the other. Possibly the elasticity of 

 the gluey stuff pulled it off, but I was certainly puzzled 

 to know how several legs got quite clean in some 

 mysterious way. He ate up the red knob of a size about 

 equal to his own head. He left the green gland stem. 

 In attacking the second gland, he appeared to get the front 

 of his head into the gum, and drew it out showing the 

 front of his head and his legs to be involved in it. He 

 ate away, however, quite unconcernedly, and though again 

 I saw no definite cleaning process, he was apparently quite 

 clean immediately afterwards. The gum stuck to his 

 head and legs in such a way as to make it difficult to 

 suppose they got clean because it did not stick to them, 

 nor did it appear to be wiped off against the plant. Up 

 to full growth in the second skin the food of the larva 

 seems to be entirely the red glands and their secretion. 



July 14th. Visited T. pcdudwm in its habitat, and 

 observed three larvae, two laid up for second moult and 

 one for a third. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1906. — PART I. (MAY) 10 



