36 PARTHENOGENESIS IN SOME 



plants." For this reason I have retained the name of Psyche 

 Helix, which I gave to the female moths reared by me from the 

 snail-like sacs, as it is not yet proved that the Psyche helicinella 

 of Herrich-Schaffer actually belongs to my Psyche Helix. The 

 same applies to the male moth described and figured by Bruand 

 as Psyche helicinella*. Bruand describes as belonging to Psyche 

 helicinella, the female and sac-bearing caterpillar of my Psyche 

 Helix, but says expressly, that he has never been able to rear this 

 Sac- bearer to the evolution of the mothf. From this, there- 

 fore, we have no certainty that the winged individuals of Psyche 

 helicinella, taken in the open air by Bruand, are the males of my 

 wingless female Psyche Helix. As the males of Psyche copulate 

 with their females whilst concealed in the interior of the sac, and 

 for this purpose push their abdomen into the hinder free aperture 

 of the female sac, the male of Psyche Helix will also perform 

 this action, and will therefore probably possess an abdomen 

 curved to correspond with the convoluted sac of the female. No 

 such curvature of the abdomen is perceptible in either of the 

 males figured by Herrich-Schaffer and Bruand, from which my 

 doubts above expressed gain still greater support. Further 

 observations, therefore, are to be made as to the existence of the 

 male individuals of Psy.che Helix. Perhaps those two flat spiral 

 sacs which I have previously described (p. 28 note*} as belonging 

 to a distinct species of Psyche (Ps. Planorbis) may be produced 

 by the caterpillar of the male Psyche Helix, which would be by 

 no means very improbable, as the caterpillar-sacs of certain other 

 Psychida differ in form and size according to the sexes. The 

 most striking example of this kind is presented by Solenobia 



* See his Essai monographique, fyc. ut cit. supra, p. 73. pi. 2. fig. 48 a. 



f Upon this Bruand expresses himself (p. 74) in the following manner : 

 " Cette chenille est fort difficile a clever, et, pour ma part, apres trois essais 

 successifs, j'ai renonce a obtenir le papillon en domesticite. II est probable 

 que quelques circonstances atmospheriques (la rosee matinale, par exemple) 

 sont necessaires a son eclosion. La chenille se nourrit tres-bien jusqu'au 

 moment de sa transformation ; alors elle commence a errer 53, et la dans le 

 vase ou la boite qui la renferme, enfin elle se fixe aupres les parois .... puis 

 rien n' arrive ; elle meurt miserablement." With me, the rearing of these Sac- 

 bearers after they were nearly full-grown, to the evolution of the female, has 

 not been attended with difficulty, in spacious airy breeding-cages, and with a 

 constant supply of fresh food (Lotus corniculatus). 



