104 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



The cases are made up of pieces of slender twigs, laid 

 parallel to each other to form hollow cylinders, with 

 care and exactness, much like the rods in old Roman 

 fasces carried by lictors before the consuls ; hence the 

 popular title of the makers is Lictor Moths. Frag- 

 ments of wood and leaves, morsels of straw or grass 

 or sprigs of moss, bound together by silk, are likewise 

 employed. These homes the inmates carry about 

 with them as snails do their shells, the head and 

 thoracic segments alone protruding to permit them 

 to grasp the leaves and twigs or whatever they are 

 crawling over. The portion thrust forward is, however, 

 hardly distinguishable, and it is very curious to see a 

 tube moving along apparently of itself. As regards 

 large Psychidae in America, the cases depend far 

 beyond their bodies ; sometimes the total length is 

 as great as from four to five inches. If the larva 

 desire repose, it can retract its head and primary 

 segments, and retire inside completely. To render 

 itself quite safe when it is clinging to a branch, it 

 can press the mouth of the tube against the branch 

 so firmly that it is closed effectively ; if detached, 

 the mouth can be drawn together by stout silken 

 threads, arranged around its circumference. When 

 about to become a pupa the insect withdraws 

 within the nest, and closes it ; shut in, it prepares 

 for its pupal sleep. The females of Oiketicus San- 

 dersii, and of an allied genus, are wanting in wings, 

 almost in legs and antennae in the perfect state, and 

 environed in the tubes they pass the whole of their 

 existence. None but an entomologist would take 

 them for mature Lepidoptera. 



