ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 141 



and about to change to the chrysalis state, it places its head downward, so 

 that when the perfect insect is ready to emerge, it may do so from the poste- 

 rior portion of the tube. And it may here be said that it is the male alone 

 which escapes from its curious habitation. The female is, in most of the 

 genera, totally unprovided with legs or wings, and is little more than a living 

 bag of eggs, looking, as one author has said, " more like a grub than a moth, 

 the head, thorax and abdomen being hardly distinguishable from each other." 

 Her eggs are laid within the body of the tube, after which operation she dies, 

 the first occupation of the young caterpillars being to consume the body of 

 their mother, " a proceeding almost exceptional in the lepidopterous insects." 

 Having done this, they leave their early home and go forth into the world to 

 follow independent lives. 



The males emerge from the chrysalis state in about three weeks, and are 

 dull-looking moths of dark color, generally unattractive in appearance, having 

 the antennas in some cases deeply pectinated only at the base, and, in others, 

 feathered throughout the whole length. They are remarkably swift in their 

 flight, dashing themselves, in search of the females, wildly among the branches 

 of the trees, and as their wings are delicate in structure, in many species 

 nearly transparent, specimens in good order are very rare in collections. 



The typical genus Psyche is mostly confined to the Old World, some forty 

 species being there known to naturalists. The most striking examples of the 

 group, however, in which the larva cases are sometimes four or five inches in 

 length, belong to a genus named CEceticus, of which a species named (Eceticus 

 Smtndersii is found abundantly in the West Indies, feeding upon fruit trees, 

 and at times causing considerable damage. A closely allied form is common 

 in Sinaloa, Mexico, some of the tubes of which, together with about sixteen 

 species of Psyehidqe from various portions of the globe, I have the opportu- 

 nity of exhibiting this evening. I have, however, in my collection many of 

 the cases, the perfect insects of which are unknown to me, and I may here 

 mention that in confinement it is, from some cause or other, almost impossi- 

 ble to bring these creatures to maturity. During my residence in Australia, 

 one species which, in its caterpillar state, was common upon the Leptospermum 

 lanigerum (the tea-tree of the colonists), though persistently collected through 

 several years and watched with incessant care, never reached the perfect 

 stage, and to this day the imago is unknown to me. Nor was this due to the 

 attacks of parasitic insects, as the substantial and somewhat formidable look- 

 ing houses of the larva rendered them almost impervious to the onslaughts of 

 ichneumons and other insect enemies. Death usually occurred after the cat- 

 erpillar had undergone its change, the chrysalis gradually drying up after as- 

 suming its proper form, nor could any care and attention which I was able to 

 bestow avert this misfortune. 



Owing to the resemblance which exists between these remarkable insects 

 and the fasces which were borne before the dignitaries of ancient Rome, one 

 species has, been termed the lictor-moth, while others are known as house- 

 builders, sack-bearers, basket-carriers, and like appellations. According to 

 the Rev. J. G. Wood, "the Singalese call them by a name which signifies 

 billets of wood, believing that the insects were once human beings who stole 



