158 



MR. STAINTON ON OEGYIA. 



sits on the outside of its case. After copulation, it lays its eggs 

 in the interior of the empty case. 



It is in this genus that we meet with at least one species, 

 Solenobia Lichenella, of which the females, without copulation, lay 

 fertile eggs. This fact was distinctly announced by Von Siebold 

 in 1851, in a brief memoir in the Silesian 'Bericht iiber die 

 Arbeiten der Entomologischen Sektion im Jahre 1850,' of which 

 I gave a translation in the first volume, new series, of the ' Trans- 

 actions of the Entomological Society of London,' p. 234. Von 

 Siebold then arrived at the conclusion " that Solenobia licJienella 

 is a sexless nurse, since the larvae of that case-bearer produce 

 nothing but females, and always again only females, which, sine 

 concubitu, lay eggs, from which afterwards larvae actually escape." 



I believe now that most of those who have worked at this group 

 of insects have had instances of Solenobia, collected in the larva 

 state, which have produced females, which, kept in a box quite 

 by themselves, have laid eggs from which young larvae have 

 proceeded. 



Taljepoeja. The female in this genus is quite similar in habit 

 and structure to the female of Solenobia, only more robust, — the 

 generic distinction being furnished by the male, and by the differ- 

 ent form of the case of the larva. However, in Talceporia, we have 

 no instance recorded of sexless nurses. 



Epichnopteryx. The female of this genus has likewise fully 

 developed legs, antennae, and eyes ; but, unlike the preceding 

 genera, when it emerges from the pupa, the pupa-skin is left in 

 the interior of the case, but the female comes out and sits on the 

 end of the case, awaiting the arrival of the male : after copulation, 

 the female, by means of its long ovipositor, deposits its eggs in the 

 interior of the empty pupa-skin, which had been left in the case. 



Eumea. The females of this genus offer some little variety. In 

 some species, as Plumclla, the legs and antennae are scarcely 

 developed; whereas La Bombycella the legs are distinctly jointed. 

 The females of this genus never leave the case : copulation is 

 effected by the male introducing the end of its abdomen into the 

 cisc tenanted by the female. 



The female of Fumca Sieboldii will just protrude its head from 

 the open end of its case, but never conies quite out of its pupa- 

 skin, and the dark -brown skin of the head of the pupa clings to 

 t he head of I be imago : immediately after copulation, it commences 

 depositing its egg! in the interior of the empty pupa-skin; and when 



