BY W. R, COLLEDGE. 115 



You have in fig. 3 one of these young gentlemen, so that 

 you may admire his person and the peculiarities of his structure. 

 Not much of tlie mosquito about him yet, but a good deal like a 

 caterpillar. He has a round head, two rudimentary eyes like 

 little dots of ink, and from each cheek projects a fleshy arm 

 jointed at the base and ending in a fan of long hairs. These 

 two fans he holds out in front of his face as though he were too 

 modest to show himself without some covering. 



His body is built up of thirteen segments or flat rings. 

 The engagement ring a young man gives to his intended bride is 

 a good type of the sort with which the body of the larva is 

 built. Nine form the abdomen, attached by a flexible skin, 

 permitting niovement in any direction. Three are fused 

 together in the chest, and one, more modified, forms the head. 

 Tafts of long hairs spring from the body segments, and many 

 of these are tactile or endowed with the sense of touch. The 

 short thick section near the head contains the circulatory organs, 

 and their movements may be very clearly seen under the 

 microscope. That long black tube in the centre of the body is 

 not his backbone, for you know insects have no vertebrji^, but it 

 is really his stomach. It is of extraordinary length, for it 

 stretches from his neck right down to his tail. And I can 

 assure you that his appetite is quite on a par with the length of 

 his stomach. He is always eating and never seems to be 

 satisfied. And I am sorry to give him a bad character too, for 

 I caught one actually eating his brother. The unfortunate 

 brother was nearly as long as himself, but of slenderer build. 

 His head was within the other's jaws, but, notwithstanding that 

 he kicked and struggled with all his might, he gradually 

 disappeared down the bigger cannibal's throat, being swallowed 

 whole. 



They generally swim tail first, a peculiar mode of progres- 

 sion, but one which seems to suit their larval dignity best. If 

 you notice the tail, you will see that it is divided into two 

 branches. The lower fork is bluntly rounded, and the other 

 seems like the four fingers of a hand. This is his swimming 

 apparatus. Really a splendid four-bladed propeller. He moves 

 as a canoe is propelled, by its occupant thrusting the paddle on 

 one side and then on the other. Even so, this four-bladed 

 propeller is thrust on either side and pulled ; and as his body is 



