THE VICTORIAN NATUKALIST. 



NOTES ON SOME VICTORIAN CASE MOTHS. 



Part I. 



By W. H. F. Hill. 



{Read hefurc Field Naturalists'' Chih of Victoria, I3th Sejit., 1897.) 



The following notes are not intended to be anything like a 

 complete account of the life-history of those species dealt with. 

 They are compiled partly from disconnected notes taken from 

 lime to time during several years past, and also in a more con- 

 nected form from specimens continually under observation. They 

 are brought before the Club in the hope that they may interest 

 other members in the habits of a family of insects which amply 

 repay the trouble ot acquiring information about them. 



Four species only are dealt with, viz. : — 



I. — Metura elovgata, Saunders, Saunders' Case Moth. 

 H. — Entovieta ignobilis, Walker, the Lictor Moth. 

 III. — Clania tenuis, Rosen. 

 IV. — Clania lewinii, Westw. 



I. Metura elongata, Saunders. 



1. Ovnm. — The ova are of a light yellow colour, oval in form, 

 and measure about yjV in. from end to end. They are exceedingly 

 soft. As the female remains in the case with the head downwards, 

 the ova are deposited above the moth and inside the pupal skin. 

 When the operation is complete sufficient eggs are deposited to 

 fill the skin as far down as the thorax, and they are prevented 

 from falling out chiefly by being mixed with some fine down from 

 the body of the female, and to a certain extent by their own 

 adhesiveness, which holds them in a more or less compact mass. 

 The period of incubation is not more than four months. 



2. Larva. — The colour of the larva is almost identical in all 

 specimens, the thorax being black and orange, longitudinally 

 striped, and the abdomen brown. The skin, particularly on the 

 thorax, is tough and strong. In shape it differs considerably 

 from most other larvae, owing to the great development of the 

 limbs carried by the first three somites, which are used as legs in 

 walking and as hands during the construction of the case. The 

 abdominal prolegs are furnished with a crescent-shaped row of 

 hooks, forming almost a circle around the foot. These hooks are 

 set outwards, and are used to support the case. The thoracic 

 limbs set out so far that the abdomen can hang almost vertically 

 downwards while the grub is holding on to a horizontal branch. 



The young larvae escape from the case of the parent through its 

 lower end, each swinging off by a thread. They come out in a 

 continual stream for several hours, forming eventually a substantial 

 silk cord connecting the case and the ground. Their rate of 



