38 MR. R. J. TILLYARD : LIFE-HISTORIES AND 



settled, its protective coloration makes it practically invisible. About 5 p.m. 

 the insects set out on their hunt for mosquitoes, which they catch with 

 nuirvellous ;igility. At this time their flio-ht is rapid, bewildering, and 

 ghost-like, and they appeal' to be more like the shadow of a dragonfly than 

 the reality. They career round bushes and trees with their mouths wide 

 open, swallowing midges and mosquitoes with wonderful ease and agility. 

 These wild flights continue until after dark. 1 have caught specimens (more 

 by luck than anything else) flying round bushes as late as 8.30 p.m. Speci- 

 mens are also not uncommonly taken at light betwf'en 8 and 12 P.M., and I 

 have two specimens which flew into a house on the Blue Mountains, attracted 

 by a lamp. 



The female oviposits by herself in the late afternoon, seeking the darkest 

 corners of the rocky pools. At such times her flight is furtive and very 

 restless. The deposition of the eggs is carried out in the same manner as in 

 the case of Austroplilehia costalis, and the description given would fit either 

 species equally well, except that Teleplilehia behaves in a more timorous 

 manner even than Austrophlelria. The slightest sound or disturbance is 

 sufficient to send the insect high up into the trees. I have never yet 

 succeeded in capturing an ovipositing female. 



When the young larva hatches out, it probably hides for some time in the 

 trash and debris of the pools. Later on it develops remarkable habits, which 

 may be inferred from my observations on the only living larva so far dis- 

 covered. This larva was found by me in October 1906 while dredging in 

 the Leura Cascades. In a net full of sand and debris collected close under 

 the bank of the creek in a rapid part of the cascades, I found a slender 

 slimy-looking larva of most peculiar aspect. The first glance suggested that 

 it was the larva of a fairly large Agi-ionid without the caudal gills. On 

 examining it, however, the size oE the head and eyes, and the presence of 

 Anisopterid appendages, showed me that it was an ^schnine larva. By a 

 process of exhaustion I knew that it must be the larva either of Austropetalia 

 or Teleplilehia, since all the other ^Eschnid larvae occurring there were known 

 to me. Later on, the discovery ot the exuviae of Austropetalia with the 

 insect just emerging, in Nov. 1908. convinced me that it must belong to 

 Teleplilehia. But absolute certainty was not attained until Jan. 1912, when 

 I discovered the exuviae and emerging imago of Teleplilehia at Ebor (Guy 

 Fawkes), N.S.W., and found that it agreed exactly with my Leura larva. 



This larva was about half-grown, only 19 mm. long, and appeared to be 

 mainly head, the thorax and abdomen being very slender, while the head 

 was quite ^ mm. wide from eye to eye. When handled it was found to be 

 slimy. It was taken home and placed in a small cylindrical observation-jar, 

 6 inches high by 5 inches diameter, provided with a sandy bottom, growing 

 water-weeds, and several sticks jutting out from the water. Next morning 

 I found it sitting at the top of a stick, four inches above the water. I picked 



