162 MR. STAINTON ON ORGYIA. 
to work out the certainty of the fact. Should the fact be con- 
firmed and the cause be ascertained, it would be important for the 
explanation of the mysterious mode of copulation amongst the 
Psychide, in which, as is well known, the female never leaves the 
ease. The male of Orgyia Hrice, immediately after exclusion from 
the pupa, becomes very uneasy in captivity, and flies about inces- 
santly ; hence it would probably not be difficult to obtain copu- 
lation in this species, if one could collect both sexes in some 
plenty.”’ 
In a notice on entomological excursions near Antwerp, by 
Messrs. Fologne, Mors, & Weyers, published in the 5th volume 
of the ‘Annales de la Société Entomologique Belge,’ we find, at 
pp. 48, 49, a brief notice of Orgyia Hrice :— 
“M. J. Colbeau, who had collected many larve of this species 
at Genck on the 28rd July, has succeeded in breeding a series. 
We observed, with him, that the apterous females which are hatched 
remain most frequently in the cocoon which contains the chrysalis, 
and deposit their eggs in the interior. On the contrary, the 
females of Orgyia antigua emerge from the cocoon, and then deposit 
their eggs on its exterior surface.” 
I wrote to M. Fologne to inquire if any further observations 
had been made on this species; and he replied that, “since the 
above note had been written, they had found the larve of O. Erice 
rather plentifully towards the frontiers of Holland, and that 
Dr. Breyer and he had observed that most frequently the females 
only opened the anterior ends of the chrysalis-skin, without 
coming quite out of it. Dr. Breyer had even remarked that the 
females turned round in the chrysalis-skin, so that the anus pro- 
truded from the open anterior end of the pupa-skin; that copula- 
tion then took place, and the female proceeded to deposit her eggs 
in the chrysalis-skin and in the cocoon.” 
Orayia puBia. In the first portion of the ‘Stettin Entomo- 
logische Zeitung’ for the present year (p. 154) is a notice by 
H. Christoph, of Sarepta, on Orgyia dubia, from which I quote as 
follows :— 
“Tn the ‘Stettin Entomologische Zeitung,’ 1858, p. 344, Herr 
Franz Schmidt of Wismar describes the habits of some Lepi- 
doptera, and amongst them those of Orgyia Erice. Herr Schmidt 
observed that, in breeding this creature, the 9 never came out; and 
he wishes for further information on this peculiarity. 
“Though it was long before I had an opportunity of reading his 
i 
