318 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



kinds produced by these case-bearing caterpillars, differ very 

 much from each other; but, as they all agree in their habits 

 and general appearance while in the caterpillar form, they are 

 brought together in one family called Psychad.e, the Psychians, 

 from Psyche^ a genus belonging to it. The Germans give 

 these insects a more characteristic name, that of sacktrdger* 

 that is, sack-bearers, and Hiibner called them Canephorce, or 

 basket-carriers, because the cases of some of them are made of 

 little sticks somewhat like a wicker basket. The cases of the 

 insects belonging to the European genus Psyche are covered 

 with small leaves, bits of grass or of sticks, placed length- 

 wise on them. The chrysalis of the male Psyche pushes itself 

 half way out of the case when about to set free the moth ; the 

 female, on the contrary, never leaves its cocoon, is not provided 

 with wings, and its antennae and legs are very short. The 

 male Psyche resembles somewhat the same sex of Orgyia^ 

 having pretty broad wings, and antennae that are doubly 

 feathered on the under side; it has also a bristle and hook to 

 hold the wings together. The cases of Oikelicusf another 

 and much larger kind of sack-bearer, inhabiting the West 

 Indies and South America, are covered with pieces of leaves 

 and of sticks arranged either longitudinally or transversely. 

 The cases of some of the females, measure four or five inches 

 in length. Some which I received from Cuba were covered 

 with little bits of sticks, about a quarter of an inch long, 

 arranged transversely, and the cases were hung by a thick 

 silken loop or ring to a twig ; the lower end of these cases was 

 filled with a large quantity of loose and very soft brownish 

 floss-silk, which completely closed the orifice within. The 

 male Oiketicus resembles a Zeuzera in the form and great 

 length of its body, in the shape of its wings, and in its an- 

 tennae, and in both the latter it resembles also the same sex of 

 a Dryocampa, particularly in its antenna, which are feathered 

 on both sides on the lower part of the stalk, and are bare at the 



* See Germar's "Magazin der Entomologie," Vol. I., p. 19. 

 t This name ought to be (Eaeticus. See Mr. Guilding's description of the 

 insect in the "Transactions of the Linnsean Society," Vol. XV. 



