110 OIKETICUS KIRBYYI. 



hind wings are almost entirely covered by the very 

 broad central cyaneous mark, and there are also 

 several spots on the hinder margin. The expanse 

 of the wings varies from three to four inches. 



OIKETICUS* KIRBYL 

 PLATE IX. 



Lansdown Guilding y in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 371. 



This insect, as well as that next described, was 

 first made known to entomologists by the Rev. 

 Lansdown Guilding, in a paper read to the Linnean 

 Society of London on the 6th June 1826, and 

 published in the fifteenth volume of their Transac- 

 tions. Its economy is so remarkable that it has 

 ever since excited attention, and its history can 

 scarcely fail to be read with interest. The most 

 curious circumstance is that the female is entirely 

 apterous, that she never leaves the puparium, but 

 there receives the male and produces her eggs, after 

 w r hich she soon dies. 



Various moths exist, both in this and other coun- 

 tries, the females of which are apterous; such as 



* Named from otKnriKot qui habitaculum qvcerere solet. 



