1G2 



MR. STAINTOK ON OBGTTA. 



to work out the certainty of the fact. Should the fact be con- 

 firmed and the cause be ascertained, it would be important for the 

 explanation of the mysterious mode of copulation amongst the 

 PsycMdce, in which, as is well known, the female never leaves the 

 case. The male of Orgyia Ericce, immediately after exclusion from 

 the pupa, becomes very uneasy in captivity, and flies about inces- 

 santly ; hence it would probably not be difficult to obtain copu- 

 lation in this species, if one could collect both sexes in some 

 plenty." 



In a notice on entomological excursions near Antwerp, by 

 Messrs. Cologne, Mors, & "Weyers, published in the 5th volume 

 of the ' Annales de la Societe Entomologique Beige,' we find, at 

 pp. 48, 49, a brief notice of Orgyia Erica : — 



" M. J. Colbeau, who had collected many larvae of this species 

 at Genck on the 23rd July, has succeeded in breeding a series. 

 We observed, with him, that the apterous females which are hatched 

 remain most frequently in the cocoon which contains the chrysalis, 

 and deposit their eggs in the interior. On the contrary, the 

 females of Orgyia antiqua emerge from the cocoon, and then deposit 

 their eggs on its exterior surface." 



I wrote to M. Fologne to inquire if any further observations 

 had been made on this species ; and he replied that, " since the 

 above note had been written, they had found the larvae of O. Ericcd 

 rather plentifully towards the frontiers of Holland, and that 

 Dr. Breyer and he had observed that most frequently the females 

 only opened the anterior ends of the chrysalis-skin, without 

 coming quite out of it. Dr. Breyer had even remarked that the 

 females turned round in the chrysalis-skin, so that the anus pro- 

 truded from the open anterior ond of the pupa-skin ; that copula- 

 tion then took place, and the female proceeded to deposit her eggs 

 in the chrysalis-skin and in the cocoon." 



Orqyia duhia. In the first portion of the ' Stettin Entomo- 

 logische Zeitung' for the present year (p. 154) is a notice by 

 EL ("hristoph, of Sarepta, on Orgyia (labia, from which I quote as 

 follows : — 



" In the ' Stettin Kntoinologischo Zeitung,' 1858, p. 344, Ilerr 

 Franz Schmidt of Wismar describes the habits of some Lepi- 

 doptera, and amongst them those of Orgyia Erica. Herr Schmidt 

 observed that, in breeding this creature, the 2 never came out ; and 

 he wishes lor further information on this peculiarity. 



"Though it was long before I bad an opportunity of reading his 



