388 



PSYCHE. 



[February 1893. 



cocoon represented upon the plate is 

 6£ inches in the major, and 3I inches 

 in the minor diameter. The cocoon of 

 Oecura Good// depicted upon the same 

 plate is flattish and was found attached 

 to the trunk of a tiee, and superficially 

 in form and color strikingly resembles 

 a reddish brown fungoid growth. It is 

 6f inches long and 4^ inches wide upon 

 the longest diameters, and at the deepest 

 point in the middle not more than 1 inch 

 thick. Dissected across the middle its 

 section presents the form of an arc, the 

 chord of which represents the base by 

 which it was attached to the bark of 

 the tree. The inner cocoons are less 

 than an inch in length and about one- 

 third of an inch in diameter, and are 

 arranged with the longer axis in a posi- 

 tion vertical to the base in the middle, 

 and as the outer circumference is reached 

 with the longer axis sloping inwardly, 

 while just at the edge a few cocoons are 

 disposed horizontally to the base. The 

 cocoons are very compact, and im- 

 bedded in layers of soft silk. The outer 

 investiture or covering is composed of 

 several distinct layers and superficially 

 is smoother and more compact than in 

 the cocoon of A. Moloney i. When the 

 insect emerges from the inner cocoon it 

 has also to force its way out through the 

 tissues of the external envelope, which 

 yield to the advance, but close again, 

 leaving hardly any trace of the perfora- 

 tion. There is no common passage for 

 exit. 



It is worthy of note that these insects 

 appear to be peculiarly subject to the 

 attacks of parasitic enemies. Fromholz 



describes a lepidopterous parasite to 

 which he gives the name Zophodiopsis 

 hyaenella, and which from the descrip- 

 tion and figure I judge to be identical 

 with the insect described by Coquerel 

 in 1885 as Chilo carnifex. The same 

 insect is found upon the West African 

 coast. Walsingham figures a Tachina, 

 T. Onchestus, Walk., which preys 

 upon the larvae. I have a series of 

 Tachina which emerged from the co- 

 coons figured upon the plate, but which 

 do not appear to be identical with the 

 species named by Walker. 



I append some extracts from the notes 

 sent me by Mr. Good. 



No. 100. (Oecura Good//, Holl.) 



"March 7th, 1891. Seven days ago, 

 March 1st, my boy returned from down 

 river with the queer object labelled No. 

 100. He found it attached to the trunk of 

 a tree and pulled it off. Three days ago 

 I saw it first, and pulled off one of the 

 cocoon cells. Cutting it open I found a 

 caterpillar about half changed to a chry- 

 salis. They must only have just spun 

 up when they were discovered. 



May 9th. Three moths came out in 

 the box in which this "comb" of cocoons 

 was kept. I thought they came from it, 

 but I could only find very small rents in 

 its face, so I waited for more to emerge. 

 No more came out till May nth, when, 

 to make certain that they had not come 

 from something I had forgotten in the 

 ground at the bottom of the box in which 

 they were, I turned out all the earth. 



May 19th. Today two more of these 



