298 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



in them, and then throw off their caterpillar-skins. The chrysa- 

 lids are remarkably blunt at the hinder extremity, and are pro- 

 vided with transverse rows of minute teeth on the back of the 

 abdominal rings. The moths, of which there are several kinds 

 produced by these case-bearing caterpillars, differ very much 

 from each other ; but, as they all agree in their habits and general 

 appearance while in the caterpillar form, they are brought together 

 in one family called Psychad.e, the Psychians, from Psyche, 

 a genus belonging to it. The Germans give these insects a more 

 characteristic name, that of sacktrager*, that is, sack-bearers, 

 and Hiibner called them Canephorte, or basket-carriers, because 

 the cases of some of them are made of little sticks somewhat like 

 a wicker basket. The cases of the insects belonging to the 

 European genus Psyche are covered with small leaves, bits of 

 grass or of sticks, placed lengthwise on them. The chrysalis of 

 the male Psyche, pushes itself half-way out of the case when 

 about to set free the moth ; the female, on the contrary, never 

 leaves its cocoon, is not provided with wings, and its antennae and 

 legs are very short. The male Psyche resembles somewhat the 

 same sex of Orgyia, having pretty broad wings, and antennas that 

 are doubly feathered on the under-side ; it has also a bristle and 

 hook to hold the wings together. The cases of Oiketicusj-, 

 another and much larger kind of sack-bearer, inhabiting the West 

 Indies and South America, are covered with pieces of leaves and 

 of sticks arranged either longitudinally or transversely. The 

 cases of some of the females, measure four or five inches in 

 length. Some which I received from Cuba were covered with 

 little bits of sticks, about a quarter of an inch long, arranged 

 transversely, and the cases were hung by a thick silken loop or 

 ring to a twig ; the lower end of these cases was filled with a 

 large quantity of loose and very soft brownish floss-silk, which 

 completely closed the orifice within. The male Oi/cf tints resem- 

 bles a Zeuzcra in the form and great length of its body, in the 

 shape of its wings, and in its antennae, and in both the latter it 



* Sec Gcrmar's " Magazin der Entomologie," Vol. I. p. 19. 

 t This name ought lobe (Kccticus. See Mr. Guilding's description of the in- 

 sect in the "Transactions of the Linnrcan Society," Vol. XV. 



