SOUTH AFRICAN BAGWORMS. 621 



the plantations. But even the majority of these will feed on 

 wattle leaves when they are offered to them. 



The knowledge at present available about South African 

 bagworms appears to be very scanty indeed. While the cases 

 •of some half-dozen species have been figured and roughly 

 ■described, their larvas and adults are for the greater part 

 unknown, and are not yet represented in the collections of 

 our museums and of private collectors of Lepidoptera. The 

 study of the life-histories and transformations of these bag- 

 worms furnishes an as yet practically unexplored and very 

 interesting field of investigation, and, while admitting that 

 our knowledge on these points is still very fragmentary, the 

 information gained thus far is here published for the purpose 

 of stimulating interest in these curious insects, which appear 

 to have been much neglected in the past. 



Bagworms in other countries. — In other parts of the 

 Old World the bagworms are well represented, and have 

 received considerable attention. From Australia, Froggatt 

 mentions thirteen species, mostly of the larger and more 

 curious kinds, as having been described up till 1907. Fi*om 

 India soiue fifty species are known, as mentioned in Maxwell- 

 Lefroy's ' Indian Insect Life/ while Central Europe also 

 shows the considerable number of thirty-five species. We 

 may thus safely assume that the twenty-four different kinds 

 which up till now have come to our notice represent only a 

 fraction of the total number to be found. Those about to be 

 ■discussed here are nearly all such as have been taken in 

 Umvoti County, Natal, in connection with the Wattle Insect 

 Investigation, and the search of other localities will doubtless 

 bring many more species to light. 



I. GENEEAL SHOKT OUTLINE OF THE LIFE HISTORY 

 OF BAGWORMS. 



(1) The Bags. 



The popular name " bagworms " has been given to these 

 creatures on account of their peculiar larval habits. The 



