MR. STAINTON ON ORGYIA. 161 
no further use to it than to enable it to cling to the interior of its 
cocoon, which it cannot quit. Its first operation, after it is hatched, 
is to form a small hole at the end of its cocoon, opposite the lower 
part of its abdomen, which it agitates briskly or even protrudes a 
small portion at the approach of the male. The latter, provided 
with a fine sense of smell, hastens from a distance, and, seated on 
the cocoon, completes the act of copulation, which takes place 
through the hole made in the cocoon. This fact is peculiar to 
this species*, and entirely new in the history of Lepidoptera; but 
it is compulsory on this Bombyx, from the peculiarly inert organi- 
zation of the female. Copulation lasts a few minutes, after which 
the male retires; but, from being active and lively as he was, he 
becomes heavy and dull. The female, after copulation, first pro- 
ceeds to stop up the hole in the cocoon, and then immediately 
proceeds to lay her eggs, which she arranges in layers intermingled 
with white hairs from the abdomen. The laying of eggs lasts 
several days, during which, if I may use the expression, she 
literally dissolves into eggs; for after the eggs are all laid, the 
female herself has disappeared, or is at least reduced to nothing. 
The cocoon is converted into a bagful of eggs, in which one would 
have some difficulty in finding the fragments of the small head of 
the female Moth, which is all that remains of her.”’ 
Oreyia Erica. In the ‘Stettin Entomologische Zeitung,’ 
1858, p. 349, is a notice of this insect by Franz Schmidt. The writer 
seems perfectly unacquainted with the previous observations of 
French entomologists. He observes :— 
“The male flies often briskly in the day. The female has probably 
a peculiarity of extreme interest. Those I had never came out of 
the cocoon; and when I had waited past the time for its meta- 
morphosis and then examined the cocoon, I regularly found the 
creature completely developed and uninjured, but dead. On account 
of the distance of the locality and the scarcity of the larve,I had only 
an opportunity of observing this fact eight or ten times, and it might 
be some extraordinary accident; but I am of opinion that such a 
number of occurrences is sufficient to arrest the attention, though 
perhaps not sufficient to allow us to accept this observation as the 
rule. In all the authors within my reach I have sought in vain 
for any explanation: if any other entomologist can enlighten me 
on the subject, I shall be very glad; if not, I hope in time myself 
* This memoir was written before M. Rambur had discovered an analogous 
species in Corsica, the habits of which he described in the ‘ Annales de la Société.’ 
