SOUTH AFRICAN BAGWORMS. 211 



wind wlieii the leaves fall in autumn. These dry leaves will 

 naturally gather in protected situations, and therefore 

 especially around the bases of trees standing in such places. 



(c) Distribution by Birds. — A third method which 

 suggests itself as being the cause of this localised distribution 

 is the carrying of the young bagworms by birds^ and I am ;it 

 present inclined to accept this method as the one responsible 

 for the sporadic infestation of the oaks in Pietermaritzburg, 

 for if distributed by the other methods mentioned we should 

 expect more trees to be affected, but if birds are the carrying 

 agent a sporadic distribution would result. 



A tree once infested will be re-infested from year to year 

 from the bags which hibernate on the small branches. We 

 have found bags on the same tree which, judging by their 

 appearance, must have been one to three years old. 



9. Monda delicatissima Walher. PL XIII, figs. 18, 19. 



Monda delicatissima Wlk. Cat. xxxii, p. 407, 1865. 



This pretty little bagworm is not unconmion in the coastal 

 area of Natal. The male, a delicate black and white moth 

 (PI. XIII, fig. 19), has been known for a long time, having 

 been described by Walker as early as 1865 under the present 

 name. The writer has found it at Durban and Eshowe, 

 Zululand ; Mr. K. Munroe has collected it at Barberton, 

 Transvaal ; while the Rev. Junod^ mentions it from Delagoa 

 in the following terms : 



"... qui se distingue par deux points noirs sur les alios 

 antevieures. L'involucre de cette espece est garni de petites denii- 

 spheres decoupees dans des feuilles et que la chenille fixe a angle droit 

 centre son fourreau. Celles de I'extremite anale sont toutes petites, 

 celles de Fextremito ceplialique sont assez grandes. Le fourreau 

 ressemble ainsi a une petite pagode ambulante. II est assez commun." 



While the bags (PI. XIII, fig. 18) are fairly common at 

 times, the moths appear to be rather scarce, owing to the high 



1 Junod. H. A., ' Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. So. Nat.," vol. xxvii. p. 248, 

 1891-99. 



