THE INTELLECTUAL OBSERVER. 



JUNE, 1864. 



THE CADDIS-WORM AND ITS HOUSES. 



BY ELIZABETH MAET SMEE. 

 (With a Coloured Plate.) 



Amongst the vast world of animal life which abounds in such 

 profusion in the rivers and ponds of Great Britain, there are 

 few creatures perhaps which will be found more interesting for 

 observation than those insects which dwell at the bottom of 

 the water whilst they exist in the imperfect or larva state. 

 There are some of them which are doubly curious from their 

 inhabiting houses of their own construction, and in which they 

 may be seen walking about at the bottom of ponds or rivers. 



At first sight it might seem highly improbable that larvas 

 of any sort of insect should have the faculty of building houses 

 wherein to dwell, but nevertheless it is perfectly true that 

 there are some which have that power given to them, and so 

 well is it employed, that often very beautiful houses are the 

 results of their labour. 



The larvte which form the subject of this memoir, belong 

 to insects of the same order as the dragon flies, namely, the 

 Neuroptcra,* and to the family Phryganeidas. They are more 

 commonly known as caddis-worms. 



The bodies of these so-called caddis-worms are, with the 

 exception of their head, very soft ; in fact, exactly resembling 

 ordinary meal-worms. They are possessed of six feet, whose 

 uses, as will be presently seen, are employed in more ways 

 than that of merely conveying them from one locality to 

 another. They have also very strong jaws or mandibles, and 

 short antenna?, or feelers. At the end of the last segment or 

 telum is situated two littlo hooks, which are curved or 

 sharply pointed. These little hooks are strong, and are the 

 chief weapons the larvas employ in guardiug their houses for 

 their own use, for by them they are enabled to fasten them- 



* In Westwood's Introduction they are placed under the order Trichoptera. — Ed. 

 VOL. V. — NO. V. Y 



