158 MR. STAINTON ON ORGYIA. 
sits on the outside of its case. After copulation, it lays its eggs 
in the interior of the empty case. 
It is in this genus that we meet with at least one species, 
Solenobia Lichenella, of which the females, without copulation, lay 
fertile eggs. This fact was distinctly announced by Von Siebold 
in 1851, in a brief memoir in the Silesian ‘ Bericht tiber die 
Arbeiten der Entomologischen Sektion im Jahre 1850,’ of which 
I gave a translation in the first volume, new series, of the ‘ Trans- 
actions of the Entomological Society of London,’ p. 234. Von 
Siebold then arrived at the conclusion “that Solenobia lichenella 
is a sexless nurse, since the larve of that case-bearer produce 
nothing but females, and always again only females, which, sie 
concubitu, lay eggs, from which afterwards larve actually escape.” 
I believe now that most of those who have worked at this group 
of insects have had instances of Solenobie, collected in the larva 
state, which have produced females, which, kept in a box quite 
by themselves, have laid eggs from which young larve have 
proceeded. 
Tatmporta. The female in this genus is quite similar in habit 
and structure to the female of Solenobia, only more robust,—the 
generic distinction being furnished by the male, and by the differ- 
ent form of the case of the larva. However, in Taleporia, we have 
no instance recorded of sexless nurses. 
Ericunopreryx. The female of this genus has likewise fully 
developed legs, antenne, and eyes; but, unlike the preceding 
genera, when it emerges from the pupa, the pupa-skin is left in 
the interior of the case, but the female comes out and sits on the 
end of the case, awaiting the arrival of the male: after copulation, 
the female, by means of its long ovipositor, deposits its eggs in the 
interior of the empty pupa-skin, which had been left in the case. 
Fumes. The females of this genus offer some little variety. In 
some species, as Plumella, the legs and antenne are scarcely 
developed; whereas in Bombycella the legs are distinctly jointed. 
The females of this genus never leave the case: copulation is 
effected by the male introducing the end of its abdomen into the 
case tenanted by the female. 
The female of Fumea Sieboldit will just protrude its head from 
the open end of its case, but never comes quite out of its pupa- 
skin, and the dark-brown skin of the head of the pupa clings to 
the head of the imago: immediately after copulation, it commences 
depositing its eggs in the interior of the empty pupa-skin; and when 
TT 
