THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 333 



themselves from the jelly, and always incommoded by the 

 slippery glass above and below them, except when they 

 indulged in a lively dance in the surrounding drop of water. 

 Their gait in this movement having reminded me of the 

 common blood-worm (larva of Chironomus plumosus, an 

 insect nearly allied to the gnats), I obtained one of the latter 

 from a water-trough, which abounded in its mud hiding- 

 places, and observed that the new larvae were very similar to 

 it. This gave me a hint for the more comfortable establish- 

 ment of the little Westmeath strangers. I placed them in a 

 wine-glass half full of stagnant water: in less than half an 

 hour numbers of the little larvae had rolled themselves in 

 mud-cases. Meanwhile, the green particles" (previously 

 described by Mrs. Ward as existing in the jelly, which 

 appears to have been of two kinds) " remained unaltered. 

 As may be supposed, they were inspected daily with great 

 curiosity. On the 2nd September the uniform green spots 

 were evidently seen to be exchanged for something moving : 

 they proved to be the caddis-worm, larva of the caddis- 

 fly, * * * X-he jelly, then, was no other than the eggs 

 of insects; and its appearance corresponded with some 

 descriptions given by Westwood (Intoduction to * Modern 

 Classification of Insects,' vol. ii. pp. 62, 516). He speaks of 

 the eggs of one of the Chironomus family as deposited on the 

 leaves of aquatic plants, and covered with a mass of gluten ; 

 and he says of the caddis-flies (Phryganeidae) that they 

 deposit their eggs in a double gelatinous mass, which is of a 

 green colour. * * * And now," adds Mrs. Ward, " after 

 all, how did the jelly get upon the deck of the 'Dulcinea'? 

 No doubt Chironomus and Phryganea deposited them there ; 

 but why so recklessly over sail-coat, coil of rope and deck 

 instead of in the lake close at hand ? That 1 do not attempt 

 to explain." Mrs. Ward's description tallies so exactly with 

 the stateuient in the * Entomologist,' that there seems no 

 room to doubt that the jelly on the deck of the yacht, and 

 the glutinous globules on the railway platform at Bath, are 

 identical. If, as represented, they fell on the platform, they 

 must either have been dropped by the parent insect in the 

 air or have been carried thither by the wind. But, did anyone 

 see them fall ? Was not their supposed fall rather a conclu- 

 sion, drawn from the circumstance of their lying on the 



