180 THE entomologist's record. 



Contribution to the life-history of Psyclie zermattensis. 



Bv A. ]JACOT. 



The cases which were obtained by T>v. Chapman at Locarno were 

 very remarkable, owing to the large quantity of mica particles used in 

 coating them. They are about half-an-inch long, cylindrical, tapering 

 slightly from the anterior (head) end, and covered with small frag- 

 ments of sand, quartz, and thin flakes of mica, the latter making it 

 appear as so much tinsel, at least in all the cases I have. The interior 

 of the cases is composed of fine white silk. 



The LARv.E are short and stout for the size of the case, about 7mm. 

 in length. The head and thoracic segments black ; the abdomen bright 

 orange to the end of the 7th abdominal, the 8th, 9th, and 10th 

 abdominals dark brown and chitinous. The head and thorax are 

 large, making up rather less than one-third and rather more than one- 

 fourth of the total length. The larva lies quiet under examination, 

 with the body somewhat curved, the anal segments being bent some- 

 what beneath the body. Head : large, black, glassy, with rather short, 

 but stout, scattered hairs. Thora.v : The thoracic segments also black 

 and glassy, but with a pale whitish anterior margin, especially notice- 

 able on the meso- and metathorax. The thoracic segments taper 

 gradually, the prothorax about half as long again as the 2nd and 8rd 

 thoracic, the head partly retractile within the prothorax. The true 

 legs large and strong, lower joints black and glassy. [I have noted 

 elsewhere (in other notes on the Psychids) that the legs are short and 

 strong ; this is hardly correct so far as comparison with other larvse 

 is concerned. I think the legs are really qiiite as long proportionately 

 as in other larvse, but their great thickness and strength makes them 

 look short.] Abdomen : The 1st abdominal segment is somewhat shorter 

 than the last thoracic, and only slightly thicker ; the abdominal seg- 

 ments increase in length and thickness gradually to the Gth , which is much 

 the largest (more than twice the length of the 1st) segment. The 7th is 

 much smaller, whilst the 8th and 9th are very small ; the larva tapers 

 rapidly from 0th to anus. The jmtli'i/s are the same as in other Psy- 

 chids I have examined, i.e., the 1st to the 4th pairs, with pit in centre 

 of foot, and with almost complete circle of hooks, the hooks large and 

 strong. Anal claspers have a less complete oval of hooks. The fdnn, 

 wherever it is horny or chitinous, has a tine cell or irregular reticulation 

 on it. The jilates at the base of the tubercles on the abdominal segments 

 are large. The tubercles are as in other Psychids : i is small, bears 

 weak hair, and is external to ii ; ii is larger, and with a stronger hair, is 

 inner to i ; iii, supra-spiracular, is a fair distance above spiracle, if 

 anything slightly anterior to it, this tubercle bears the largest hair ; 

 iv and v, sub-spiraculars, are small, especially the anterior one of the 

 pair = ? V. These are rather close together, well below spiracle, and 

 nearly or quite in lineAvith one another longitudinally. The chitinous 

 plates at the base of tubercles i and ii on the 1st abdominal have be- 

 come enlarged until their edges have coalesced. The lateral ridges are 

 fairly well developed. On the first abdominal there is a weak extra 

 chitinous plate, posterior to the subdorsal position, as in the larger 

 species, but only present on the 1st abdominal in this species, I cannot, 

 however, trace any signs of hair or tubercle on it. The 3rd abdominal 

 segment bears an extra subdorsal tubercle and hair on right-hand side 



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