PSYCHE MOTH. 285 



Mr. Newman expresses still stronger opinions, and asserts that 

 the Oiketici ought to be removed from the lepidoptera altogether, 

 and placed with the Phiyganeidse, or caddis flies, whose dwellings 

 are wonderfully similar to those of the Oiketici. 



The Oriental idea that feminine delicacy is only to be main- 

 tained by concealing the face, seems to have been borrowed 

 from the House-builder Moth, which is a perfect model of female 

 excellence, according to Oriental notions, always staying at home, 

 always hiding her face, and always prodiicing enormous families. 

 Perhaps the male may be attracted to the female by some pecu- 

 liar instinct, for the eyes can have little to do with the discovery, 

 she being so closely shut up in her house, and never leaving it 

 till the day of her death. Many British insects, such as the 

 well-known oak-egger moth, have this curious power, and the 

 male has even been known to enter a pocket in which was a 

 female shut up in a box. 



There is an allied genus, named Psyche, found in England, 

 the males of which have their wings partly transparent, rather 

 long and sharply pointed, and the females are without wings 

 at all. 



The larva of this insect also makes a hollow case, and behaves 

 in a veiy curious manner before it assumes the pupal condition. 

 Fii'st, it fastens the mouth of the case firmly to the leaves or 

 branches of the plant on which it has been feeding, and then 

 withdraws itself into the case. Should it be a male larva, it 

 turns completely round, so that its head coincides with the 

 opening at the lower end of the case, through which it makes its 

 escape when fuUy developed. The female moth, however, behaves 

 like that of the Housebuilder, and although she also fastens the 

 mouth of her case to the tree, she never leaves her home, and 

 therefore does not need to alter her attitude. 



The name of Psyche certainly seems to be misapplied in this 

 instance. In our minds the name of Psyche conveys an idea of 

 the utmost grace and delicacy — two attributes which sculptors 

 and painters have in vain endeavoured to embody. If, therefore, 

 we he^r that a certain insect is named Psyche, we certainly 

 expect to see a bright and elegant creature, delicate in form and 

 pleasing in colour. Whereas, when the domicile is opened and 

 the real Psyche comes to view, nothing can be more disappointing 



