634 C. B. HARDENBKRG. 



(6) Seasonal History. 



In this respect the various species of bagworm also behave 

 very differently. Of those we have bred thus far, the Wattle 

 Bagworm is the only species in which the adults emerge in 

 mid-winter. Fertilisation takes place at that time, but the 

 incubation for the eggs is long — two months — while the 

 growth of the young is comparatively slow, and so there is 

 only one generation a year. In the case of the Rubbish Bag- 

 worm the conditions are reversed, the moths appearing in 

 mid-summer — January — and here we also have reason to 

 believe that there is only one generation a year. Of the other 

 species the moths are found to emerge at various parts of the 

 season (mostly in mid-summer), and their life-histories have 

 not yet been followed closely during the entire year, so that 

 we do not know their life-cycle accurately. As to the Crossed- 

 stick Bagworm, we have reason to believe that there are two 

 generations in a year, since moths have been found swarming 

 during the early spring and again in Februaiy. 



II. SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF BAOWORMS. 



The determination of the moths reared from these various 

 bagworms shows that the species all belong to one of the 

 three families: Psychidae (the Wattle Bagworm, Acantho- 

 psyche junodi {Heyl.), the Lictor Bagworm, Clania mod- 

 dermanni Heyl., the Thatched Bagworm, Acanthopsyche 

 tristis Janse, and the Meadow Bagworm, Trichocossus 

 arvensis Janse) ; Cossidas (the Crossed-stick Bagworm, and 

 the Webbed-crossed-stick) ; and Tineidae (various species of 

 Melasina and Ceromitia). It is interesting to note that 

 the families mentioned are all of the lower and less specialised 

 ones, being placed in the phylogenetic scheme near the Tri- 

 choptera, from which, according to some authors, the Lepi- 

 doptera have developed. The larvae of the other members 

 of these families, so far as known, are all concealed feeders, 

 either living in the wood, like the Cossid«, or mining in the 



