100 Mr. R. M‘Lachlan’s Monograph of the 
shield, protecting the larva when it protrudes its anterior seg- 
ments in search of food, &c. The habit of the larva is to crawl at 
the bottom, the convex side of the case being always uppermost. 
These cases are certainly the most curious of all those fabricated 
by native species of this Order; they were long ago described 
and figured by De Geer, Mém. ii. pl. xv. figs. 15—17. 
1. Molanna angustata, Curtis. 
(Pl. II. fig. 5, larva; fig. $2, case; Pl. VI. fig. 2, neuration and 
maxillary palpus; Pl, XII. fig. 10, app.) 
Molanna angustata, Curt. (*) Phil. Mag. p. 214, 1 (1834); 
Steph. (*) Ill. p. 203, 2; Kol. Gen. et Spec. Trichop. pt. 
2, p. 246, 2, pl. 4, fig. 46; Hag. (*) Ent. Ann. 1860, p. 68, 
56; M, nigripalpis, Steph. (*) Ill. p. 203, 1, pl. 33, fig. 3 
(1836); Nais plicata, Ramb. Hist. Nat. Névrop. p. 504 
(1842). 
Antenne testaceous. Head and thorax clothed with yellowish 
hairs. Palpi reddish-testaceous, sometimes fuscescent. Meso- 
thorax brownish. Anterior wings ochreous-yellow, paler in the 
female, the veins conspicuously brownish. Posterior wings smoky- 
grey, with paler fringes. Legs pale testaceous. Abdomen reddish- 
brown. In the male there is a lobe proceeding from the middle 
of the upper margin of the last segment, forming a cover to the 
penis, with a needle-shaped point on either side (probably the 
app. intermed.) ; app. sup. rather large, straight, flattened, obtuse, 
fringed with long hairs; app. inf. long, the tips thin, curved up- 
wards and inwards, the apices approximating or nearly so. In 
the female the apex of the abdomen is obtuse, with no very evident 
appendices, 
Expanse of fore-wings 10—14 lines; the females the largest. 
Larva: Head, pro- and meso-nota shining-testaceous ; the head 
furnished with a conspicuous V-shaped black mark; _ posterior 
margin of the pronotum broadly margined with black; some fus- 
cous dots rather thickly placed, forming a blotch-like mark in the 
middle of the mesonotum. Metanotum and abdominal segments 
dull dirty brownish-ochreous, the respiratory filaments whitish. 
Legs testaceous, marked with black at the base. 
This curious insect is common in most parts of the country, but 
especially in the metropolitan district, frequenting both standing 
and running waters. It is of nocturnal flight, and I have taken 
it flying steadily at night at long distances from water. During 
the day it conceals itself among reeds and other water plants, and 
rests in a peculiar manner, with the wings folded round the body 
and the legs laterally extended. , 
