MACALISTER ON SOME LARVA CASES OF OIKETICUS. 135 



as 0. Careyi ; thirdly, with even, regular fasces of twigs in storeys, as 

 0. Crameri and 0. Macalisteri. 



The geographical range of the genus is not accurately denned as yet, 

 but seems to be widespread. Species have been described from the 

 West Indies by the Eev. Lawnsdown Guilding, from Great Britain by 

 West wood, from the East Indies by Westwood, from Ceylon by Tem- 

 pleton,* and from Australia. Some of the species even seem to have a 

 wide range, for Mr. Westwood mentions that specimens of a Ceylon 

 species, 0. Templetoni (Westwood, the 0. tertius of Templeton), were 

 sent by Bowring from Hongkong. 



The last specimen which I have to describe is one of great delicacy 

 and beauty, and though not an Oiketicus, belongs to the neighbouring 

 family of Bombyx. It is an elliptic ovate sac, open at one end, and 

 measuring two inches in length and two inches in circumference ; it 

 tapers nearly equally to both extremities. The walls were covered 

 with short, stiff, branching hairs standing at right angles with the sur- 

 face, from which they are readily detached, and they are liable, when 

 the nest is being handled, to pierce the fingers. They are most 

 numerous at the fundus of the sac, and become scantier towards 

 the small jagged orifice. The substance of the wall, which is of 

 a somewhat papyrous texture, is composed of five interlacing cylin- 

 drical threads of a silky nature. These threads are twisted, and appear 

 interwoven roughly, differing thus from those composing the last struc- 

 ture, which is merely felted. The hairs on the exterior are dark brown 

 in colour, and form very beautiful objects when viewed by polarised 

 light. They taper from about their centre towards the base, where 

 they are small, but obtusely pointed. Towards the free extremity they 

 first pass cylindrically, then sending off six or eight lateral ascending 

 pointed branches, which taper rapidly to acute apices. The continued 

 stem ends in a stiff, sharp point, about four times the length of any of 

 the lateral processes. These lines are made up of an external hyaline 

 cutical matter with a slighly waved lateral border, especially towards 

 the base, and a central granular medullary structure. A few longitu- 

 dinal striae were visible on the exterior of some of them, and a few 

 were seen which, after a short cylindrical course, ended in a tuft of 

 straight branches. Internally a number of fine chitinous, finely cor- 

 rugated fragments of the puparium, were found, covered with a few 

 single hairs. There were not data sufficient to name this species ; it 

 seems, however, to be a new species. 



Mr. Andrews said he had listened with much pleasure to the in- 

 teresting and pleasing statements given by Dr. Macalister in his paper 

 on the larva cases frcm South Australia of the genus Oiketicus. The 

 thanks of the society were due to Dr. Macalister for the very pretty 

 illustrations he exhibited of the varied forms of those cases. He hoped 



* "Proc. Entom. Soc." vol. v., p. 5. 



