SOUTH AFRICAN BAGWORMS. 62.> 



what the food-plant, and it is this, and the shape of its silken 

 casing, which gives to each species of bagworm its charac- 

 teristic appearance. 



In external aspect there is a great variety: some species 

 are much more careful architects than others. The Wattle 

 Bagworm, A cant ho psycho junodi {Heylaerfs) (PI. XLIV^ 

 fig. 1), takes off irregular pieces of whatever part of the 

 food-plant is within its reach and anything which may be 

 attached to it, and fastens it at one end only to the bag, so- 

 that the result is a bag of irregular surface, adorned with- 

 leaves, sticks, seed-pods, or even other bags which happened 

 to be hanging on to the leaf on which it was feeding. 



Another such careless builder is what we have called the 

 "Thatched Bagworm," Acanthopsyche tristis Janse, but 

 here only the blades of grass are used, and as the silken tube 

 in the case of this species is more cylindrical, the entire bag 

 has a longer and narrower appearance (fig. 2). 



The "Grum Bagworm," Melasina stelitis Meyrich 

 (fig. 3), uses pieces of the broad-leaved foliage on which it 

 feeds, cuts it into more or less square pieces, about a quarter 

 of an inch each way, which it fastens with one side on to its- 

 bag. These are rather closely applied to the surface of the 

 bag, those of the one layer slightly overlapping those of the 

 preceding one, and as a result we have a bag which,, 

 although made of the same material and in a similar manner 

 to that of the Wattle Bagworm, has an entirely different 

 aspect. The distinction between the two can be more readily 

 seen than described. 



The most careless builder of all is Melasina picea Meyr.. 

 (fig. 4), a species which, for want of a better name, we have 

 called the " Rubbish Bagworm " from the construction of its 

 bag. It accepts anything Avhich it finds on the ground : 

 remains of beetles, flat egg-cases of spiders, chips of bark,, 

 sticks, dried leaves, etc., everything is made use of. These 

 objects are attached to the case in a very irregular fashion,, 

 lengthwise, crosswise, or at any angle, so that when the 

 creature is resting on the ground it can hardly be- 



