104 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



The Psychid egg belongs, like those of all others referred to the 

 SphingoMicropterygidstirps, to the" flat " type. It is oval in outline, 

 ovoid or egg-like in shape (Heylaerts states that the eggs of the Oiketi- 

 cidae, Psychidae, Canephoridae and Apteronidae are all elliptical in outline 

 and of the shape of a pigeon's egg), whitish or yellowish in colour, 

 without markings, and comparatively, very large. The excessively deli- 

 cate texture of the egg of Pachythelia, &c. , is hardly credible. Two modes 

 of egg-laying seem to be general. The winged females deposit their eggs 

 outside the case and cover the batch with wool from the anal tuft. 

 The apterous females lay their eggs in the case, similarly covering 

 them with the silky wool from the anal tuft (when the latter is 

 present). The eggs of the Solenobiids, Taleporiids, and Fumeids are 

 fairly firm, and not of the exceeding delicacy of those of the Epich- 

 nopterygids and higher Psychids. Heylaerts states that, for those 

 species he has observed, 200 has been the minimum, and 500 the 

 maximum, number of eggs laid. He adds that they are rarely attacked 

 by hymenopterous parasites, and that the young larva? are hatched in 

 three or four weeks. 



The newly-hatched larva? of most Psychids are very similar. They 

 have a black, and relatively large, head, the thoracic segments are 

 covered dorsally with corneous shields, generally black, without mark- 

 ings but with more or less ill-defined stria?. The abdominal segments 

 greyish, yellowish, or, occasionally, reddish ; the tubercular hairs rather 

 long. The true legs dark, shiny, strong ; the short prolegs carry an 

 oval of crochets, broken, however, on the inner margin. As soon as 

 hatched, the larva commences to spin its case, often utilising some of 

 the material of which the maternal case has been formed ; others (e.y., 

 SterrhopteHai hirsutella), however, at once fasten to the silk pieces of the 

 leaves or lichens on which they feed. The newly-hatched larva? appear 

 to have the tubercles arranged very similarly to the adult. Thus, in 

 that of the specialised Thyridopteryx, the arrangement of i and ii is 

 identical with that of the adult, i farther from the median line, and ii 

 well up on the segment towards the line of i, iii is supraspiracular, iv 

 and v (without hairs) form a tubercular plate, with the two tubercular 

 points well marked, vi is also a point on a plate, and vii very similar. 

 In the newly-hatched, and more generalised, Solenobiid larva, the tubercles 

 appear to be identical with those of the adult, i and ii being typically 

 trapezoidal with i nearest to the median line, iii (with strong seta), iv 

 (strong) and v (weak) both subspiracular, with vi and vii both showing 

 single seta?. On the other hand, in the newly-hatched Taleporiid (tiibit- 

 losa) larva, Chapman notes i, ii, and iii as being so minute as to be 

 observed only with difficulty, iv and v subspiracular each with a seta, 

 vi below these, and vii again below, at the base of the prolegs, all 

 single and with one seta, a sufficient difference to show that, however 

 simple the Psychid tubercles may be in structure, the larva? are dis- 

 tinctly specialised. [This variability of structure within the Psychid 

 stirps renders null Dyar's generalisations on these larva? (quoted ante, 

 vol. i., pp. 46-47) and many of his statements as to the Psychid tubercles 

 are at variance with the facts as we have observed them in our British 

 species.] Sufficient may be gathered, however, from the variation of 

 larval structure to suppose that a very complicated system of classifica- 

 tion will be necessary when the details of the life-histories of a greater 

 number of (especially exotic) species are better known. 



