BAGWORM MOTHS OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 7 



Comparatively little work has been accomplished in South America 

 by entomologists of that area, and nearly all that has been done is the 

 result of German nationals residing in Argentina. Two of the earliest 

 workers were Berg (1877-83) and Weyenbergh (1884). Within recent 

 years Koehler (1924-53) has presented several short papers on the 

 systematics of Argentine psychids. He has described a total of 17 

 new species, but, unfortunately, many of these are not represented by 

 adult males, and so they have been treated in the appendices of this 

 paper. 



Four other European entomologists need to be mentioned. 

 Heylaerts (1881-1901), although not primarily interested in American 

 insects, described four new species of bagworms which were sent to 

 him from this hemisphere. The identities of three have been posi- 

 tively established; that of the fourth (rileyi) remains highly uncertain. 

 Heylaert's major effort in this family culminated in his "Essai d'une 

 Monographic des Psy chides" (1881), but this was concerned mainly 

 with the Em'opean species. The family Psychidae was cataloged 

 for the world fauna by Dalla Torre and Strand (1929). This reference 

 is most useful, but it has become somewhat outdated and it includes 

 several genera (e.g., Acrolophus) which are no longer assigned to the 

 Psychidae. The only previous comprehensive treatment of this 

 family for the Western Hemisphere was that of Gaede (1936). In this 

 work 17 genera and 68 species (including one genus and species since 

 referred to the Cossidae) were considered in an extremely superficial 

 manner. 



Life History 



The interesting life histories of the various members of this family 

 demonstrate many phenomena that are unique or nearly so for the 

 Lepidoptera. To supplement the present author's limited obser- 

 vations and conclusions acquired from the rearing of four species, 

 the works of several entomologists have been summarized rather 

 freely in the following discussion. 



Distribution. — Present records indicate this family is widely 

 distributed in the Americas, from as far north as Banff in Alberta, 

 Canada (approximately 53° N. latitude), southward to the island of 

 Navarino at the extreme tip of South America (55° S. latitude). In 

 altitude these insects are known to range in the New World from near 

 sea level to as high as 2200 meters in the Colombian Andes. 



The flightless condition of the female psychid appears to be almost 

 a contradiction of the very extended distribution that several species 

 have attained; however, if one examines more closely their various 

 means of dispersal, the phenomenon can be better understood. One 

 important present day means of dispersal for bagworms is the acci- 



