64 Mr. W. W. Saunders o?i the Habits 



dark brown, the remainder white. It has six legs placed on the 

 first three segments of the body, two on each segment. The 

 chrysalis is of a pale yellow brown, and about a quarter of an inch 

 in length. The moths were lost by an accident, and therefore can- 

 not be minutely described. They approached in size the cloth- 

 moth, and the upper surface of the wings were of a silvery brown. 

 The larva has the power of turning within its abode, and if watched 

 when fixed to a wall may often be seen protruding its head and 

 legs, sometimes at one end, sometimes at the other, as if in 

 search of food. I have always found the cases tightly fixed, yet 

 the larvse have the power of locomotion. One of the larvpe with 

 its envelope, which I detached from a wall and placed upon a table, 

 was very active in moving it about, by protruding the head and 

 legs and then laying hold of the table, when by a contraction of 

 the body the case was moved forward, and as these jerks were 

 rapidly repeated, the larva and its abode made considerable pro- 

 gress. When the progress of the larva was obstructed, it imme- 

 diately withdrew into its home, and turning itself, began to re- 

 treat at the other end. Whilst on the table, it fixed its house 

 several times, an operation so quickly performed as scarcely to be 

 perceptible. I always found the cases nearly of the same size, 

 whence we might be induced to suppose that at first the larvae had 

 the instinct to make an abode sufficiently large to suit themselves 

 when fully grown. I could never determine the food of the larva, 

 nor the manner in which it constructs its interesting habitation, 

 particulars which I hope some other observer will supply. In so 

 vast a field as India, where there are so many Europeans who have 

 leisure, it is much to be regretted that there are so few observers 

 of the insect creation. Valuable discoveries might doubtless be 

 made, and many new facts brought to light, which would be 

 highly interesting to the naturalist and particularly to the ento- 

 mologist. 



Descriptions of the Neiv Species of Coleoptera referred to in the pre- 

 ceding Observations. 



CiciNDELA of Authors. 

 CiciNDELA LiMOSA, Sttunders. Plate VII. fig. 6. 



Olivaceo-viridis, subcupreo-nitens, elytris margine tenui ochra- 



ceo cinctis. 

 Long. Corp. -^^ unc. 



