BACOTIA SEPIUM. 263 



copulation, falling off helpless as soon as oviposition is completed, 

 whilst Bacot observes that it sits at the end of the case (like the ? of 

 L. lapidella), awaiting a male with the ovipositor extended, the position 

 being maintained until death takes place if she be not fertilised. 

 Fletcher says that the ? moth stands upon its case, with its head 

 towards the twig and its ovipositor directed outwards and prominent, 

 the position being maintained for two or three days. Breyer, who 

 gives a most interesting account of the insect, says that " it emerges in 

 the early morning, clings to the case, its anal end towards the opening 

 from which it has emerged, its head towards the base of the case ; the long 

 and transparent ovipositor is movable not only in the direction of its 

 length, but can also be turned freely to the right and left, up and down, 

 so that, when in this resting position, the female continually moves it 

 in such a manner as to describe perfect circles and as if it were seeking 

 something in the air. Two males being introduced to the presence of 

 a newly emerged female, one of them suddenly threw itself by the side 

 of the latter holding to the lower end of the case. During this time 

 the female increased strongly the movement of the ovipositor, directing 

 it towards the male and ' se saisit de lui,' so to speak ; she retained her 

 position and inserted the ovipositor a little ; the male, venter up, fixed 

 his feet under those of the female, carrying his wings ' en toit ren- 

 verseY The act of copulation did not last a minute. The male 

 raised his wings and flew away, I had almost said, singing ' satiatus 

 sed non lassatus abibat.' The male having gone, the female advanced 

 a little towards the sac and deposited her eggs. After the egg-laying 

 she is reduced to a third of her volume and spends her last energy in 

 plucking the down and lining the case, this done she falls to the 

 ground and dies rapidly, the last sign of life being a contraction of the 

 ovipositor." Speyer notes that a male pupa which just showed out of 

 the case at 8 a.m. had, by 4 p.m., pushed itself out more than half way, 

 when it was observed to emerge suddenly, three of the wings expand- 

 ing in two minutes (whilst the moth was trying to free the fourth 

 which was attached to the pupa-skin). Zeller notes that the male is ex- 

 tremely active, and that one can scarcely get a specimen in fine condition 

 unless it be pinned directly after emergence. In Upper Saxon 

 Lusatia, Schiitze says the insect appears to be exclusively confined to 

 pinewoods ; Bossier notes that, in Nassau, the green-grey, bell-shaped 

 case is often obtained from old hedges, the trees in which are overgrown 

 with moss ; Behberg mentions that the larvas are gregarious on old 

 fences, tree-trunks, &c, in Bremen ; whilst Glitz says that the larvaa 

 are common in May on tree-trunks and fences. Of its Worcestershire 

 habitat, Fletcher says that a case was beaten from an old spruce {Abies 

 excclsa) in 1858, on the Old Hills in Worcestershire, which produced a 

 male example ; in the spring of 1877 four more cases were obtained 

 in the same locality from one of which Stainton bred a male on July 

 10th. (This is in the " Stainton " collection among the Solenobiids.) 

 In the spring of 1882, five other larvae were obtained in the same 

 locality, one of which produced a female imago. A single male was 

 beaten from Cephalonica mixed with juniper, July 31st, 1888, at Merton, 

 by Walsingham, but the species has not been seen since. Bruand notes 

 it on the lichens on old oak-palings at Chevigney-sur-1'Ognon and 

 Seuley near Grand- Vaire, also on an old mossy hornbeam in the 

 forest of Chaux. Paux says that cases are very common on the 



