i88 THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



blisters bore effective evidence for some days after to the virulence of 

 the bites. 



The most interesting captures, and the last of any note, were made 

 at a pond on the top of the hill beyond the meadow. The net brought 

 up quantities of Ephemera, larvae and pupae, also young larvae of 

 Dytiscus marginalis. These two insects are interesting for the purpose 

 of comparative study, both being purely aquatic in their habits, yet 

 one respiring by means of branchial gills, and the other breathing the 

 external air. Has any one ever discovered the use of the tails of 

 Ephemera, beyond their application, during the early period of life, to 

 the projection — it cannot be called swimming — of the insect through 

 the water ? We have experienced no difficulty in breeding the imago, 

 and so long as the aquarium is stocked with plants, the larvae will 

 need no further attention. The pupa is only distinguished by its 

 rudimentary wings, resembling the larva in all other respects. After 

 emergence, the empty pupal envelope will be seen on the surface of 

 the water. The windows of the room in which the aquarium is lodged 

 may be searched for the perfect insect, and attached to the frames 

 will be found the skin of the pseud-imago. 



The larva of the newt is also a conspicuous object in the bottle, 

 and we were fortunate enough to take them very young, just after the 

 emergence of the first pair of legs, and before the disappearance of 

 the branchial tufts. In the latter, the circulation of the blood is easily 

 seen with an inch objective, magnifying from 40 to 50 diameters, and, 

 thanks to the excessive transparency of the animal, the pulsations of 

 the heart, and the course of the blood as far as the tail, can be dis- 

 tinctly traced. 



Some thirty or forty of the extraordinary larvae of Corethra plumi- 

 cornis are also taken, proving a great aquisition to the day's captures. 

 These most singular creatures are apodal, but the head is supplied 

 with an arm-like process, with which its prey is seized and pressed 

 against a pair of cruel dentate jaws. This larva always assumes a 

 perfectly horizontal position in the water, the weight of its body being 

 exactly counterpoised by four air chambers, two thoracic and two 

 pre-caudal. 



Nothing particular is noted on the somewhat accelerated home- 

 ward journey, which lay through Higher Bebington, unless mention 

 is made of a pit covered with a vivid green scum, composed of Proto- 

 phytes (Protococcus plitvialis). No train at Spital for an hour, so walked. 

 Home again at 10 p.m., all dead beat. 



Messy Bank, Egremont, Cheshire. 



