INSECT ACTORS 123 



its covering and widens it by letting in a new 

 piece. 



This curious construction not only serves 

 the insect as a protective covering while it is in 

 the larval state, but also takes the place of a 

 cocoon. When ready to pupate, Psyche attaches 

 the tube to a branch of a tree, stem of a plant, 

 or in some cases a wall or a fence, and carefully 

 closes one end ; it then turns round so that its 

 head is towards the opening. When the meta- 

 morphosis is complete, the male Psyche escapes 

 as a pretty, delicate, little moth with almost 

 transparent wings; but, strangely enough, the 

 female never leaves the shelter of the home 

 that she has made, and has no wings, legs, or 

 antennae ; she is, in fact, nothing but an egg-bag. 

 When the eggs are laid the moth dies, and the 

 first thing the larvae do after they are hatched 

 is to make a meal of their mother's dead body. 

 This is one of the very few cases in which larvae 

 of the Lepidoptera are cannibalistic. 



In America and Australia some of the Psyches 

 grow to a very large size, and there is one species 

 that constructs a case measuring as much as four 

 or five inches in length. When at rest, the 

 insect suspends its long tube from the branch 

 of a tree with silken threads of such strength 

 that although tossed about by the wind it does 

 not become dislodged. 



The larvae of the Tineidae, the smallest 

 members of the Lepidoptera, also make tubes or 

 cases from the material on which the female 

 moth has deposited her egg. The depredations of 

 some species of these tiny maggot-like creatures 



