312 MR. J. CURTIS ON A SPECIES OF MOTH FOUND INHABITING 
employed in the manufacture of ink, &c.: but there is only one instance on record, I 
believe, of any Lepidopterous Insect having this property ; and not being aware of it at 
the time I was pursuing my investigations, I was very much astonished, on examining 
the pupe, to find that they belonged to the order Lepidoptera, none of which are para- 
sitic in their ceconomy ; and this rendered the fact still more anomalous and perplexing. 
The under side of one of these magnified at Fig. 15. shows the antenna, legs, and wings, 
folded in the usual manner, and Fig. 16. represents the back of the same. 
Remarkable as these facts must appear to the naturalist, they are not more so than 
the astonishing contrivance for inclosing and protecting the pupa. In what way the 
operculum is formed to fit so beautifully that there is little doubt, when the plant is 
alive, this suture would be with difficulty discovered, is a question that nothing but 
actual observation can solve. It may certainly be fairly inferred that it is the operation 
of the caterpillar, since there are no galls wanting opercula, and the existence of the 
dead pupe within them proves that it is not the work of the moth; neither have the 
Lepidoptera the means of cutting or biting except in the caterpillar state. 
On reviewing the subject it appears probable that the female moth deposits her eggs 
in the buds ; that the secretions of the caterpillars cause the formation of the galls, 
which, when fully grown, form, as it were, cocoons for the protection of the chrysalides ; 
and that, in order that the moth may eseape when hatched, the caterpillar cuts out an 
operculum, which forms a plug that can be easily removed by the moth when it bursts 
from the chrysalis. I shall not speculate further on the wonderful ceconomy of this 
little insect ; but in order to identify it I shall proceed to give its characters as well as 
I am able from the imperfect state in which it is found in the galls. 
Ordo LepipopreRA. 
Fam. TortRicip& ? 
Genus Crcrposzs!. 
Caput parvum. 
Antenne corpus longitudine equantes, graciles, ciliate, articulis elongatis numerosis, 
in capitis vertice prope oculos inserte. 
Thorax squamulis depressis vestitus. 
Abdomen subrobustum, ovato-conicum. 
Pedes longi: tibiis anticis spina prope apicem munitis, intermediis posticisque ad apicem 
calcaratis, his densé squamulatis et in medio preeterea bi-spinosis ; tarsis 5-articu- 
latis, articulo basali longissimo ; wnguibus pulvillisque mimutis 
Ale sublanceolate. 
' Knkxis, galla; ois, tinea. 
