SCIEXCE- GOSSIP. 



took the form of honorary degrees given by Uni- 

 versities, and his election as a F.R.S. in 1854. In 

 1877 Edinburgh conferred the LL.D.. in 18 _ 

 Oxford its D.C.L.. and in 1894 Cambridge the 

 honorary D.Sc. It was in 1882 he received his 

 baronetcy, and in 1893 the station, on commemorat- 

 ing its jubilee, was honoured by the knighthood of 

 Dr. J. H. Gilbert. 



- e have said, the Rothamsted Agricultural 



Station still continues at work. It will be managed 

 by a committee nominated by the Roval Societv. 

 the Royal Agricultural Society, the Chemical 

 Society, and the Linnean Society. 



Sir John's personal character was of the most 

 amiable and enthusiastic ; but his enthusiasm was 

 tempered with shrewd businesslike common sense. 

 In the baronetcy he is succeeded by his .son. a 

 well-known sculptor. 



NOTES ON SPINNING ANIMALS. 



Br H. TTaixis Kew. 



onlinuedfrom page 78.) 



IV. Sxakes op Insect-larvae. 



~"TT has often been said that spiders are the only 

 -*- animals capable of spinning snares for the 

 capture of prey : and it is certainly true that there 

 is no natural object in the world making even a 

 tolerably near approach to the spiders perfect 

 snare. A few other animals, however, are known 

 to spin structures to help them in catching their 

 prey : and among these are certain larvae of 

 caddis-flies of the family Hydropsychidae. 



The Hydropsychid larvae generally live in 

 running water, and are sometimes found in places 

 where the current is very rapid. Unlike most 

 caddis-worms, they are believed to be mainly pre- 

 daceous. (') The cases in which they live are fixed, 

 not portable like many of the common caddis-cases 

 of our ponds : and some are remarkable from the 

 fact that they have at the mouth a raised net of 

 silken meshes, small, but of good size relatively to 

 the rest of the abode. This net almost certainly 

 has the function of arresting edible matters, riving 

 insect-larvae, etc., chiefly those carried down 

 stream by the current. 



Miss C. H. Clarke (whose observations were 

 communicated to the Boston Society of Natural 

 History by Hagen in 1882) has described cases and 

 nets of this kind — the work of larvae of Hydro- 

 psyche — found in abundance in swift streams near 

 Boston. Mass. The structures varied considerably, 

 but the typical form was that of a tunnel, without 

 basal wall loosely attached by its edges to a stone 

 or other object. At the mouth of the tunnel, 

 always facing the current, was a vertical frame- 

 work with a net stretched across it. The tunnel 

 was usually about half an inch long, and composed 

 of sand or bits of plants. The framework of the 

 little net. formed of vegetable bits, was occasionally 

 - yed or held in position by silken cords stretch- 

 ing from it to suitable points on the stone. Some- 

 times it had the form of a simple arch, at others 

 of a complete ring, and it was stiff enough to 



(1) 3I r Lachlan, " Trichaptera of the European Fauna " (1874- 

 1880), p. 349. 



retain its position when removed from the water. 

 In a certain stream, where the stones were covered 

 with mud. leaves, and rubbish, large communities 

 of these larvae were observed. Looking down 

 upon the stones, numbers of dark holes might be 

 seen, facing the current, often in rows, side bv side, 

 stretching obliquely across the stone: and when 

 removed for examination, the delicate net. sup- 

 ported by its framework, could be observed across 

 each hole. The accompanying illustration is a 

 copy of that given by Miss Clarke. The larvae are 

 strong little creatures, and Miss Clarke concludes 

 that the use of the net is for catching food. It 

 was obvious that without wholly leaving its house 

 the creature could remove from the net anything 

 edible lodged there by the current ( 2 ). 



Similar structures, also the work of larvae of 

 Hydropsyche, have been described by Howard, 

 who found them in numbers in a swift stream near 

 Washington, They occurred on stones tilted so as 

 to bring a portion of the surface close to the top of 

 the water, and were placed, preferably, at the edge 

 of slight depressions, so that the tubular portion, 

 or case proper, was protected from the full force of 

 the current The tube was strong, covered with 

 particles of leaves and twigs, and open at either 

 end. It was furnished, anteriorly, with a broad 

 funnel-shaped expansion, woven in wide meshes 

 with strong silk, and supported at the sides and top 

 by bits of twigs and small portions of the stems of 

 water plants. The structure varied in size ; the 

 mouth of the funnel, which in every case was 

 nearly at right angles with the tube, was in some 

 instances not more than 3 mm. in diameter, while 



(2) Clarke, -Proc Boston Soc of Xat. Hist," ir 

 pp. 67-71 : and " Psyche," vi. (1891), p. 157. A figure, natural 

 size, accompanying the latter paper, gives the impression of a 

 structure somewhat less definite than that shown in the 

 enlarged figure here copied : and the net (compared with the 

 size of the case) hardly appears so large. A figure given by 

 Sharp (" Camb. Nat. Hist," v., 1895, p. 483) — modified from a 

 renirawing of Clarte's enlarged figure by Riley ("Report VS. 

 Department of Agriculture," 1886, pL is„ fig. 5 ) — shows a rather 

 large net of wide meshes, and by an oversight it is not stated to 



