1888.] 89 



matter, which appeared to be the ruptured sacs of a Coccid, but it was 

 too late in the season to be certain ; and afterwards I could not follow 

 up the indications, I believe of this species. In 1886, Mr. E. Parfitt, 

 of Exeter, sent me some similar matter among spines of furze, of 

 which nothing could be determined. In 1887 he forwarded some 

 more examples earlier in the year ; but these never reached me, having 

 been appropriated whilst in transit by some gatherer and disposer of 

 other men's goods : I fancy his disgust when he found the contents of 

 the package were of no value — to him. This year, on April 24th, 

 Mr. Parfitt sent a supply of the young forms, and on May 16th some 

 more, of which two became encrusted with waxen matter, but out of 

 one only came a Hymenopterous parasite ; the others dried up. On 

 June 2nd came more still further advanced from Mr. Parfitt, and 

 finally, on June 18th, some fully developed, all females ready to spin 

 up. These I intercepted in forming their covering, and described as 

 above. Until the last these Coccids move freely about, but they then 

 fix themselves at the base of a spine or shoot, and there make their 

 covering ; in this the eggs are laid, and when the larvae escape the 

 structure becomes ruptured and spread out, looking like bits of white 

 wax among the spines. 



I am indebted to Mr. E. T. Lewis for the illustrative figures. 



8, Beaufort Gardens, Lewisham : 

 August, 1888. 



THE LARVA, &c, OF PSILOPOTAMUS. 

 BY KENNETH J. MORTON. 



The pretty and active members of the genus Philopotamns fre- 

 quent rapid streams and torrents, and they delight especially in those 

 whose beds are strewn with moss-covered boulders. I fancy in some 

 favoured localities they must occur nearly all the year round ; in this 

 quarter I have seen Ph. montanus in at least six months of the year 

 (April to October), and I have no doubt that at any time during the 

 period indicated that species could be obtained in all conditions of 

 growth and advancement. Eor instance, in the middle of April, this 

 year, I found at the same streamlet larvae ranging from a small size 

 to full growth ; nymphs of all grades, from those just changed from 

 larvae to those which displayed all the colours and parts of the perfect 

 insect ; and finally, the perfect insects themselves. 



Philopotami are essentially creatures of dashing waters, and their 

 larvae succumb almost at once if placed in still water of any depth, 



H 



