66o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



With slight exception, we find no homogeneousness in the perfect 

 state of the insects of this group, but much variation of form pre- 

 sented by the different species. The general shape of the body varies 

 from one greatly elongated, as in Metura elongata, to a short and 

 robust as well as to a short and slender form. In like manner the 

 wings vary from a long, narrow, and sharp-pointed wing, as in 

 Metura, to those of short, broad, and ample proportions; and, again, 



may either be densely squamose, 

 or colorless, of beautiful hyaline 

 texture, almost or completely des- 

 titute of scales or hairs. The an- 

 tennae may be deeply pectinated 

 only at the base, in others they are 

 n J-D.^ i-^^^ feathered to the tip, and in the 



number of joints offer striking 

 variations. But the males of near- 

 ly all Psychidce are characterized by a uniform dull dark color, of a 

 brown or gray tint; there is an almost total absence of bright color 

 or of pattern. Yet these moths are in nearly all cases day-flying. 

 Probably the beauty of the males disappears when the females be- 

 come degenerate, and the conditions which produced it are then at 

 an end. 



The larval cases of these moths are among the " common ob- 

 jects " in Australia, meeting the eye everywhere suspended to trees 

 and shrubs, such as the different kinds of Leptospernum, Melaleuca, 

 etc., by their anterior end, and swinging loose otherwise. When 

 unusually abundant, so as to look like a good crop of some seed or 

 fruit, the pendent berths are particularly conspicuous, and attract 

 the attention of the least curious of mortals. The most striking ex- 

 amples of the group belong to Metura Sau7idersii, whose cases are 

 sometimes over five inches long; those of the male are one third 

 smaller. 



Considering this abundance, the insects are singularly rare in 

 the moth state; not one case in a hundred will be found to produce 

 a moth, owing partly to the destructive effects of attacks on the 

 larvae of ichneumonideous and dipterous parasites. From the same 

 cause, nothing is harder, nay, more nearly impossible, than to rear 

 these creatures in confinement; the caterpillars of a species may be 

 collected persistently for years, and watched with incessant care, and 

 yet never reach the perfect stage ; hence there are already imperfectly 

 known species of which the more mature conditions await discovery; 

 and when success does attend our efforts at protection, many exam- 

 ples are probably observed of the depredations of the insidious para- 

 sites. I^ot that failure to attain perfection is always due to infesta- 



