52 



Marvels of Insect Life, 



Some of the species live on trees, others on old walls and palings, where they 

 feed upon lichens and construct their cases of the same material. The cases of 

 different species exhibit considerable variety of form, and no doubt some of these 

 are protective, as, for example, when they resemble fallen catkins and the scales of 

 leaf-buds. Some take the form of a snail-shell : such are those of the genus 

 Cochlophora, of which the Natural History Museum possesses examples which were 

 sent to them as actual snail-shells. These snail-like cases are not covered with 



extraneous matter, but con- 

 sist wholly of a silkv ma- 

 terial, which is made to 

 appear of similar texture to 

 the real snail-shell. 



One of the most re- 

 markable of these Insects, 

 on account of its large size — 

 though it measures less than 

 two inches across the out- 

 spread wings — is a native of 

 Central America and the 

 West Indies. It is known as 

 the house-builder,! and con- 

 structs a case similar to that 

 of the European species de- 

 scribed above. It was dis- 

 covered by Guilding in the 

 West Indies about eight}' 

 years ago. Guilding reared 

 ^'i, the caterpillars for several 

 years, and was puzzled at 

 getting only male moths as 

 the result, never imagining 

 that he had to look in the 

 cases for the wingless female. 

 At length a lucky accident 

 showed him a female open- 

 ing her case b\' movements 

 [H. Bcistin. Qf i^^jy \^Qn^(\ in order to admit 



the male ; and so he was put 

 on the track of the m\"sterv. 



Pholu by 



Psyche Cases. 



Two cases of a Uritish species photographed on a pine-trunk in the New I'orest. 

 cases are covered with short pieces of heather-shoots. 



After mating, the female fills the lower part of the pupa-skin with her very numerous 

 small yellow eggs, and strips the down from her body in order to cover them. He 

 found that as soon as the eggs were hatched the young caterpillars distributi'd 

 themselves and began to make cases of fragments of leaf and bark. These were 

 cylindrical and open at each end. Whilst very small the cases are carried erectly, 

 but they soon get too heavy, and take a horizontal i)osition. The mouth is furnished 



1 CF.cetictis kirbii. 



