I20 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



The engraving shows the tubes of the Psyche with the heads 

 and fore parts of the bodies of the larvae projecting and the 

 male moths flying about. Psyche fusca, which is common in 

 England, covers its case with pieces of leaf and grass, which 

 are put crossways. 



A closely allied kind, which belongs to the genus Fiimea, has 

 females which have legs and antennae, and it would appear that 

 they emerge from the case after having escaped from the chrysalis 

 condition, and sit on the outside. 



Very large Lepidoptera of the family of the Psychidce are found 

 in America and in Australia, and one kind has a tube four or five 

 inches in length, which it hangs on to trees with stout silken 

 threads, so that very strong gales of wind produce little effect 

 upon it. 



The remarkably defective development of the females of these 

 families of the Bombycina is almost equalled by that of the 

 larvae of the Cochliopodidce. These singular insects, of which Mr. 

 Stainton says only two species occur in Europe, are unlike any 

 others in the caterpillar state. In one the larvae are greenish 

 with raised dots and a broad yellow stripe on the back inclining 

 to reddish on the side, and they live on the oak, beech, and 

 poplar trees, and are smooth : they have no legs. In the other, 

 the legs are equally deficient, and the pupae of both kinds are 

 found in a firm cocoon amongst leaves. The perfect insect flies 

 entirely by day, and soon tatters itself 



There are some interesting moths which, although they have 

 very short antennae and a long abdomen, with some evidences of 

 the presence of a short oviduct, are still classified among the 

 Bombycina. They constitute the family HcpialidcB, and are found 

 in considerable numbers in America, Africa, and Australia, but 

 only rarely in Europe. The caterpillars feed on the roots of many 

 plants, and never come into the light, and they are slim, elongated, 

 and colourless. The largest of the European species is Hepialus 

 hinmdi, commonly called the Ghost, and the wings of the males 

 are snowy white in colour with brownish costae and fringes, whilst 

 the females are decorated with wings of a dull yellow tint, and 

 with brick-red bands. The larva is pale in colour, and has a 

 reddish-brown plate in front on the second segment, and lives 



