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The Pencil-tail. (Polyxenus Lagurus.) 



By S. J. McIntire, F.E.M.S. 



Pencil-tails inhabit the bark of the willow, the elm, and the 

 apple-tree. Occasionally they may be seen wandering in a solitary 

 manner, but generally they are to be found in colonies numbering 

 four or five, and very often as many as thirty. When the colony is 

 this size there is generally in its immediate neighbourhood a web 

 which may be spun by the Polyxeni, but it may be the deserted 

 home of some spicier. Although there is strong suspicion that the 

 former suggestion is probable, it is by no means proved, and I would 

 rather wait till the pencil-tails have been detected in the act of 

 spinning it, before endorsing the strongly asserted opinions of a 

 certain friend of mine on this point. 



I have kept them alive for various periods of time during the 

 past five or six years, and they have proved a source of much plea- 

 sure to myself and others. Their beauty is remarkable, but they do 

 not display much intelligence. At various times from the middle 

 of April to July, I have been gratified by finding they had 

 deposited eggs, but I am sorry to say that I was not successful in 

 the attempt to hatch and rear the young. The eggs have always 

 been in small groups of about one dozen, white, oval, and imbedded 

 in a quantity of hair, which is easily recognized as having been ob- 

 tained from the creature's tail. The single hairs are most care- 

 fully interlaced with each other and round the eggs, and the whole 

 forms a beautiful object not unlike a miniature bird's-nest contain- 

 ing eggs. Dr. Gray first called my attention to the depositing of 

 eggs in a cell I gave him some two years since, and a day or two 

 afterwards my own specimens fabricated similar nests. Our 

 secretary, Mr. White, has the satisfaction of being 'the first to wit- 

 ness the hatching out of the young ; this happened to him a few 

 days ago, and he kindly permits me to quote portions of his letter 

 intimating the success of his experiments. 



"The number of eggs seems to be irregular, about nine being 



