48 Mr. L. R. Crawshay u)i 



conditious, the evils of excessive moisture and excessive 

 dryness crept in, and worked serious injury in the first 

 week or ten days. On July 2ud the embryo began to 

 show signs of development, and on July 8th the form of 

 the young larva was discernible. After this they advanced 

 rapidly till the first hatched on July 2(Jth, or about six 

 Aveeks from the approximate date of laying. But mean- 

 time i^he greater number had fallen off in various stages 

 of development, and only five, out of perhaps sixty-five, 

 survived, hatching respectively on July 20th, 22nd, 24t]), 

 25th, and 26th. One of these was a cripple and another 

 was lost by an accident. 



At the time of hatching, with the exception of the 

 conspicuous black ocelli and a few reddish hairs, they were 

 nearly white, the head and the sluelds about the segments 

 attaining their darker colour several hours afterwards. 

 The length is about 2| mm. 



Of the three that remained, two began to feed about 

 thirty-six hours after hatching; the third clung to its egg- 

 shell for twenty-four hours, and refused food for tliree 

 and a half days. The snails at length given them were 

 Hdicella capcraia, and Hygroiiiia rufcsccns, 8 to 4 mm. in 

 diameter. 



In these three examples (as also the one that was lost) 

 I noticed most of the instincts of the older larva, including 

 the feigning of death for as long as fifteen or twenty 

 minutes at a time. There was no attempt to push the 

 snail away, but a decided tendency to work underneath 

 it, perhaps with the same purpose. More than once a 

 snail that began to appear from the shell was sharply 

 struck with the mandibles and driven back ; in another 

 case the hardened film quickly thrown by the snail as a 

 barrier across the orifice was cut away by the larva after 

 an hour and a half's work, and the shell was then entered. 

 The ultimate loss of these larvoe was perhaps largely due 

 to tlie period of exceptionally cold weather that followed 

 the time of hatching, and particularly so in the Cotswolds, 

 where I happened to be staying. The fragmentary 

 account of them, so far as it goes, may, however, be worth 

 recording. 



Larva (a) hatched on July 20th, and entered tlie first 

 shell on July 21st; partly devoured this snail; left it and 

 entered another on August 2nd, but afterwards became en- 

 tangled inside the shell, and died without having moulted. 



