MR. STAINTON ON ORGYIA. 157 
The female of our common Orgyia antigua has hitherto been 
considered a fair type of a female of the genus Orgyia; but recent 
observations, joined to some which were made nearly thirty years 
ago, have shown that this assumption was unfounded. Before, 
however, proceeding to notice the abnormal habits of some other 
females in the genus, it may be advisable to glance at some of the 
allied genera, as these new observations on habit are mainly in- 
teresting as supplying an unexpected link between genera hitherto 
deemed far more widely separated. 
The insects, therefore, which I must now briefly bring before the 
notice of this Society are the Psychide. The Psychide, though, for 
convenience of study, we are very apt to treat them as a whole, 
are really divided into two groups, one of which belongs to the 
Bombycina, the other to the Tineina. Some systematizers place 
the whole of the Psychide amongst the Tineina; but the very 
Bombyciform appearance of the males of some of the larger 
species renders this step one which is very difficult to follow. In 
my investigation of the Tineina, I have placed two genera only of 
these insects in that group, Zaleporia and Solenobia, leaving the 
remaining genera (Epichnopteryx, Fumea, Psyche, and Oiketicus) to 
rank amongst the Bombycina. Professor Westwood, in the ‘ Pro- 
ceedings of the Zoological Society’ (1854, pp. 240, 241), has, in 
like manner, maintained the separation of the group, and un- 
hesitatingly refers the genera Psyche and Oiketicus to the Bomby- 
cina. In my remarks on the genera Epichnopteryx, Fwmea, and 
Psyche, I have followed the very able and philosophical treatise of 
Dr. Hofmann, which appeared in the Berlin ‘ Entomologische 
Zeitschrift’ for 1860. 
All the species of the entire group of Psychide are, in the larva 
state, case-bearers, from the Oiketicws with a case two or three 
inches long, to the smaller Solenobia, of which the case is not 
above 23 lines in length; and the structure and habits of the 
larve are all very similar: but in the females of the group we find 
a singular diversity ; and I will therefore proceed to notice the 
differences presented by the females in these genera, commencing 
with the genus Solenobia, which comprises the smallest species, 
and working upwards to the genus Ovketieus, which contains the 
largest. 
Sonenopia. The female of this genus has its legs, antenna, 
and eyes well developed; when it emerges from the pupa, the 
pupa-skin is protruded from the case, and the excluded female 
