4 ROUND THE YEAR 



one of a number of threads which are stretched from 

 leaf to leaf like those of a Spider, a Geometer, or a 

 Tortrix larva. All this I have described in detail in 

 my Natural History of Aquatic Insects. A few days 

 ago a brother-naturalist, a most careful observer of 

 Insects, wrote to express his complete disbelief in the 

 suckers of the Simulium larva. The hooks and threads 

 were there, but no suckers were required or supplied. 

 In some disquiet, for my description was already in 

 type, I set off to procure a few fresh larvae, and repeat 

 my former observations. It was a clear frosty morn- 

 ing, but the Meteorological Office promised us a gale, 

 so I took my waterproof. The road through Bolton 

 Woods was frozen hard, and made an excellent slide 

 in level places where the rain-water had turned to ice. 

 Before noon the sky was overcast, and a south-west 

 wind blowing, with plenty of warm rain. However I 

 reached the brook, and got as many larvae as I 

 wanted. They were motionless, though clinging as 

 firmly as ever to their leaves. It was not till they 

 had been half an hour in my warm study that they 

 revived and crept about. Then I picked them up, 

 one by one, with a camel-hair pencil, and put them 

 into a clean saucer full of water. They adhered in a 

 moment, and crept about like Leeches, applying the 

 fore and hind sucker alternately to the smooth porce- 

 lain. Time after time I repeated the trial, and it 

 never failed. At last I transferred a larva to a clean 

 slip of glass, and held it under the full stream from a 

 tap. It was not dislodged, and then I was persuaded 

 that the suckers were real, and not imaginary. 



Cold seems to have benumbed even the hardy 



