48 VIXSOXIA STELLIFE1IA. 



4 Gardener's Chronicle ' for 1871, at p. 1006. I have 

 taken the species at Eaton, near Chester, on compara- 

 tively recently -imported orchids, and have received it 

 from Liverpool. On olst October, 1901, I received, 

 through Mr. George S. Saunders, from the scientific 

 committee of the Eoyal Horticultural Society, on the 

 leaf of an orchid (Cypripedium Godfroyse, var. leuco- 

 chretum), about forty examples of this beautiful species, 

 which on examination proved to be nearly all male 

 puparia, several of which were tenanted, and the males 

 were nearly ready to emerge. By placing them in a 

 warm temperature they matured, but did not emerge, 

 but I successfully liberated two examples from which 

 my drawings were made. Subsequently Prof. Henslow 

 kindly informed me that the specimens were submitted 

 to the Council by Mr. Odell, of Stanmore, Middlesex, 

 and that the orchid is a native of Cochin China, but 

 no information could be given as to where this plant 

 originally came from. Presumably, therefore, it had 

 been under cultivation for some time, and the proba- 

 bility is that it was not a recently-imported plant. 



Seeing that the male is completely boxed up in its 

 puparium, the wonder is how it manages to effect its 

 escape. I have made a most careful examination 

 of the structure, and have failed to find any trace 

 of a slit or opening in any part of it. One can 

 only surmise, therefore, that the insect liberates itself 

 by breaking away a portion of the ventral part of the 

 puparium, which is at that point extremely thin, and 

 thus escapes from beneath its otherwise compara- 

 tively strong domicile. 



Distribution. Occasionally met with in Europe under 

 glass, but apparently unrecorded from the open air in 

 the South. It is recorded also from Reunion (Signoret) y 

 Ceylon (Green), Brazil (Hempel, Cockerell), British 

 Guiana (Mclntire), is common in the West Indies, 

 and Mr. Cockerell has recorded it as introduced into 

 Central America. It has been found on a number of 

 plants, and is apparently a general feeder. 



