314 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



sexes in a breeding-cage. The males are very swift flyers, and 

 soon dash themselves to pieces in a breeding-cage. When ready 

 to emerge, the pupse work their way, with the aid of the short 

 sharp spines on some of the rings, half out of the bottoms of the 

 cases ; the moths, on hatching, crawl on to the cases and dry 

 their wings. In many of the cases one, two, and sometimes 

 three extra long pieces of stick project beyond the bottom of the 

 cases. Some writers have advanced the opinion that these 

 sticks are placed designedly in order to help the males emerge. 

 Out of curiosity I examined the cases in one of my breeding- 

 cages, with the following result : 227 cases, 127 males, 100 

 females ; 45 of the former had projecting ends, and 24 of the 

 latter. This result seems to indicate that whether the cases 

 have projecting ends or no is just a matter of chance. 



I have watched many males emerge, and always found they 

 had no difficulty in leaving the pupa-case, and crawling on to 

 the " case " when there were no projecting ends. Before turning 

 to pupas the male larvfe turn upside down inside the cases, so say 

 the majority of writers on the subject. This may be quite 

 correct, but I have made one or two observations of my own on 

 the subject. One of the two species of Braconid flies that infest 

 this species of case-moth always emerges from the upper end of 

 the case, coming through a hole in the head of the male pupfe 

 standing upright in the cases. It may be that being parasitised 

 prevented the larvae turning before pupating, but it did not pre- 

 vent them from turning to externally perfect pupae. It seems 

 quite possible, and very probable, that it is the yupce that reverse, 

 and then only ivhen ready to emerge. The other species of Braconid 

 fly always emerges from the lower end of the cases, killing the 

 larvae before it pupates. A third parasitic fly is a true Musca ; 

 it also kills the larvae, but emerges from the upper end. Spar- 

 rows may often be seen tearing open the cases and devouring the 

 larvae. Out of 256 cases examined, twenty-nine were struck by 

 one of the three species of parasitic flies. 



[Note by Dr. T. A. Chapman : — The observations in italics on 

 pp. 311, 314 are so contrary to those made on so very many other 

 Psychids, that it would be extremely valuable if Mr. Littler 

 would repeat these observations with every care. Though actual 

 observation has been made on very few species, as to the actual 

 occurrences whilst they are taking place, the fact that female 

 Psychid cases of very many species show the eggs to* be laid in 

 the undamaged female pupa-case (no bottom dropped off), and 

 the absence of any trace of the female herself shows that she 

 dropped out of the mouth of the case, strongly support the idea 

 that the mass of species have very similar habits in this respect. 

 The habits of insects are so various and unexpected that it is im- 

 possible to say what habits might not occur, but one would like 



