S THE VICTOKIAN NATURALIST. 



Of their insect parasites, Brachycera, Chalcididse, and Ichneu- 

 inonidae are the most common, and amongst the birds the Silver- 

 eye, Zosterops ccarulescens, is their chief enemy, destroying the 

 young larvae in great numbers. Indeed, but for these useful little 

 birds the case moths might easily become a serious insect pest, 

 as they threaten to be in the various city parks and enclosures 

 where the Silver-eye does not dare to go. 



Having dwelt at some length on the habits and structure of 

 this species, it will serve no useful purpose to do the same for the 

 others where they agree with it, as it can be taken as the type 

 species, and the other members of the family briefly compared 

 with it, so as to reduce to within reasonable limits what would 

 otherwise be a very long paper with much mere repetition. 



II. Entometa iGNOBiLis, Walker. 



1. Ovum. — The ova are light yellow coloured, oval in form, 

 and very soft. They are deposited upwards into the pupal skin. 



2. Larva. — The larvae of both sexes show a general similarity to 

 those of the previous species, the mottled brown and white head 

 and thorax, and the smaller size being the most noticeable points 

 of difference. They also resemble M. elongata closely in their 

 general habits, but appear to be rather less migratory, no doubt 

 on account of their living chiefly on eucalypts. 



The young larvre live in a cone-shaped case, which they lengthen 

 and enlarge around the base as their needs require, until it is 

 about I inch long, with a diameter at the mouth of about a 

 quarter of an inch or less. 



Up to this time few, if any, sticks are put on the case ; usually 

 it is quite unprotected, and the operation of converting this soft 

 cone into the strong and well-protected cylindrical case of the 

 more mature larva shows much ingenuity. 



Stated briefly, a loose neck is added, and near its junction with 

 the case are fastened as many sticks as there is room for, each 

 fixed by one end and left free as to the rest of its length. The 

 case is then torn to pieces and frayed out, after which the sticks 

 and the old case are formed, with the addition of new silk, into 

 the complete cylindrical dwelling in which the insect spends the 

 rest of its life. 



I am inclined to think that the grub never makes further 

 alterations after this complete reconstruction of its case, although 

 my evidence on this point is only negative. That it could do so 

 I see no reason to doubt. A series of diagrams will aid me in 

 explaining the operations performed in cutting off a stick and fixing 

 it to the case, which is, as before mentioned, a cone-shaped tube, 

 with a newly-made neck loosely spun on of rather larger diameter 

 than the old part. Suppose the larva to be at the end of a 

 branch, part of which it intends using for its case (fig. 2). It crawls 



