78 DESTEUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



anterior aperture to use its three pairs of thoracic legs for 

 locomotion when feeding. It usually fixes a part of the 

 edge of the aperture by fibres of silk temporarily to the 

 twig it is on, so that, if alarmed, it can suddenly withdraw 

 completely within the case, when it remains hanging with 

 the apertm'es so completely closed that, if the nature of 

 the object was not known, it would never be suspected to 

 contain a large, vigorous, and voracious larva. 



The male (see Fig. 3) is a singularly shaped and rapid 

 flying moth, and it is, unless reared from the pupa (see 

 Fig. 4), very difficult to obtain a perfect specimen of, as it 

 flies so aimlessly about that it is at once damaged and 

 injured, and thus falls an easy prey to ants. 



Professor McCoy doubts whether any eggs of this 

 curious insect have ever been found, but at Fig. 7 we give 

 an illustration of a small cluster of eggs found in the body 

 of a female. These eggs were given to me by Mr. Spry, 

 who is an excellent observer, and on whose responsibility 

 the little egg-cluster is figured. 



The males may be captured by placing some of the 

 females under a large perforated box, or a meat cover will 

 suffice for the pm*pose, as the males are thus attracted to 

 the female, when they may be taken and transported to 

 the chloroform bottle, preparatory to pinning out in the 

 cabinet. 



The young larvse of these curious creatures are, 

 whilst in the early stages, very minute. I well remember 

 a circumstance which happened some years ago. I had 

 a box containing a number of the stick-nests of this moth, 

 and these I placed for safety on a shelf at about ten feet 

 from the floor. One evening I was busily engaged in 

 arranging some insects in my cabinet, when, on acci- 

 dentally looking upwards, I noticed a number of long 

 silky threads reaching from the shelf to the floor. I was 

 quite amazed, and could not divine the source of so 

 singular a phenomenon, until it occurred to me to mount 

 the steps and look at my box, and there to my astonish- 

 ment I found a constant stream downwards of these 

 little grubs, which were then so minute as to be hardly 



