SOUTH AFKICAN BAGWORMS. 677 



tlioracic segments on the ventral side and tears off irregularly 

 on the dorsal side. Normally this anterior part of the female, 

 including the head and the first two, or all, thoracic segments, 

 is the only portion of the moth which is exposed during the 

 reproductive period (text-fig. 5, a). 



Percentage of individuals reaching maturity. — 

 The mortality amongst the young after hatching and during 

 the earlier larval instars is beyond computation. Owing to 

 the distribution by external agencies, their finding a suitable 

 food-plant is a matter of chance, and such as find favoui-able 

 surroundings suffer from many vicissitudes duriug their first 

 larval instars, amongst which unfavourable weather conditions- 

 play a most important role, by favouring the development 

 of diseases of various kinds. Of those which pass this 

 infantile stage and become healthy, feeding bagworms, we 

 have found that toward the end of the feeding period only 

 about one-quarter i-each the pupa stage. Our examination of 

 some twenty thousand bags, gathered from week to week in 

 lots of a thousand each, showed that the average number of 

 males which pupated was 280 per thousand, of the females, 

 which have a longer feeding period, 190 per thousand, the 

 deaths being principally caused by parasitism. Of this 

 average of 230 male puptv, only 210 male moths emerged,, 

 due to the fact that some twenty of these larva?, though 

 parasitised, had been strong enough to pupate, the parasite 

 emerging from the pupa later. Of the females there Avas 

 practically no difference between the number of pupte formed 

 and the number of moths emerging. 



The adults. — The male moth was described originally by 

 Heylaerts in the 'Ann, Soc. Ent, Belg.,^ vol. xxiv, p. cxxx 

 (1890) under the name Eumeta junodi, but the species 

 is now placed by Janse in the genus Acanthopsyche, and 

 the latter author gives a re-description of the male of this- 

 species. The female has, so far as known, not been described,, 

 and a description therefore follows : 



Acanthopsyche junodi {Heylaerts) — Female. — Wing- 

 less. Length 18 to 22 mm., vermiform, body-wall soft and 



