1893. , 235 



gradually slid outwards, and its legs sank farther and farther, till the 

 poor creature was left sprawling upon the surface in a perfectly help- 

 less condition. By refraining for some hours from trusting itself to 

 thfe treacherous element, it ultimately recovered its power, and was 

 able to run about over the water as freely as before. When Meso- 

 velia was plunged beneath the surface, a film of air could be seen 

 clinging to its ventral surface, just as with beetles, like Hydrohius, &c. 

 There were some Hydras in the jar, and I was interested in watching 

 an encounter between one of these and a Mesovelia which I had sub- 

 merged. On touching the tentacles of the polypi, the insect became 

 at once entangled in the stinging threads, and was evidently much 

 alarmed ; it struggled spasmodically, and with great energy, and 

 several times freed itself only to become again entangled by further 

 movements. At last it got clear and rose to the surface, and then a 

 most vigorous cleaning took place, when it appeared that one of the 

 fore-legs was paralysed. Again and again the little creature stroked 

 the injured limb out straight, but each time it returned to the cramped 

 position, and could not be put to the ground. The effects of the 

 stinging, however, went off after a time, and it completely recovered 

 the use of the limb. 



Pairing took place several times, and the bodies of the females 

 became by the end of the three weeks greatly distended. 1 hoped to 

 have seen oviposition take place, but in this was disappointed, nor 

 could I discover that any eggs had been laid on the leaves or on the 

 sides of the jar. On leaving the neighbourhood, I attempted to bring 

 some specimens with me, keeping them as carefully as I could in a 

 small jar of water ; but the shaking in the railway was too much for 

 their constitution, and by the end of the journey most of them were 

 drowned, or, at any rate, appeared to be. These I at once set ; but 

 possibly some of them might have recovered, had I given them a 

 chance, for I found nest day that one had laid an egg on the card. 

 The egg is a long white body, very large in proportion to the size of 

 the insect, about 1 mm. long, i. e., about one-fourth of the length of 

 the entire insect. It is a slightly curved cylinder with rounded ends, 

 and with a segment at one end of slightly smaller diameter than the 

 rest. It would, perhaps, be unwarrantable to assume from the laying 

 of this egg that oviposition normally takes place at the end of summer, 

 since the process may have been accelerated by the shock of drowning. 

 But whatever ihe condition of the insects during the winter, whether 

 they hibernate as imagos or as larvae, or whether they pass the winter 

 in the egg condition, or whether the females only survive till the next 



