Albert Gale, Aquarian nature studies and economic fish farming, Sydney, W.A. Gullick Government Printer, 1915, p. 57-58.
The depositing of the eggs that produce the worms and their constructing for personal protection the little castles, where in they encase themselve, are the chief and only interest in watching them. The female lays her eggs in the water while resting on the film and sometimes carries them from place to place seeking for a suitable anchorage. In a few days these eggs hatch and the young remain in the jelly sac for two or three days. No sooner the inmate quit this sac, than it at once instinctively searches for buyilding material wherewith to build its harbour of refuge. The building material consists of sand, bits of shells, sticks, leaves, anything ; sometimes the small shells of pond snails containing their living inmates are utilised. But these little castles are not invulnerable, and often become a prey to the attacks of the water scorpions, and the inmates quickly become a meal for them or other carnivorous insects.