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MR.  J.  CURTIS  ON  A  SPECIES  OF  MOTH  FOUND  INHABITING 
employed  in  the  manufacture  of  ink,  &c.  :  but  there  is  only  one  instance  on  record,  I 
beheve,  of  any  Lepidopterous  Insect  having  this  property ;  and  not  being  aware  of  it  at 
the  time  I  was  pursuing  my  investigations,  I  was  very  much  astonished,  on  examining 
the  pupa,  to  find  that  they  belonged  to  the  order  Lepidoptera,  none  of  which  are  para- 
sitic in  their  ceconomy  ;  and  this  rendered  the  fact  still  more  anomalous  and  perplexing. 
The  under  side  of  one  of  these  magnified  at  Fig.  15.  shows  the  antennts,  legs,  and  wings, 
folded  in  the  usual  manner,  and  Fig.  16.  represents  the  back  of  the  same. 
Remarkable  as  these  facts  must  appear  to  the  naturalist,  they  are  not  more  so  than 
the  astonishing  contrivance  for  inclosing  and  protecting  the  pupa.  In  what  way  the 
operculum  is  formed  to  fit  so  beautifully  that  there  is  little  doubt,  when  the  plant  is 
aUve,  this  suture  would  be  with  difficulty  discovered,  is  a  question  that  nothing  but 
actual  observation  can  solve.  It  may  certainly  be  fairly  inferred  that  it  is  the  operation 
of  the  caterpillar,  since  there  are  no  galls  wanting  opercula,  and  the  existence  of  the 
dead  pupa  within  them  proves  that  it  is  not  the  work  of  the  moth ;  neither  have  the 
Lepidoptera  the  means  of  cutting  or  biting  except  in  the  caterpillar  state. 
On  reviewing  the  subject  it  appears  probable  that  the  female  moth  deposits  her  eggs 
in  the  buds  ;  that  the  secretions  of  the  caterpillars  cause  the  formation  of  the  galls, 
which,  when  fully  grown,  form,  as  it  were,  cocoons  for  the  protection  of  the  chrysalides 
and  that,  in  order  that  the  moth  may  escape  when  hatched,  the  caterpillar  cuts  out  an 
operculum,  which  forms  a  plug  that  can  be  easily  removed  by  the  moth  when  it  bursts 
from  the  chrysalis.  1  shall  not  speculate  further  on  the  wonderful  ceconomy  of  this 
little  insect ;  but  in  order  to  identify  it  I  shall  proceed  to  give  its  characters  as  weU  as 
I  am  able  from  the  imperfect  state  in  which  it  is  found  in  the  galls. 
Ordo  Lepidoptera. 
Fam.  ToRTRiciDiE? 
Genus  Cecidoses'. 
Caput  parvum. 
Antenna  corpus  longitudine  sequantes,  graciles,  ciliatse,  articulis  elongatis  numerosis, 
in  capitis  vertice  prope  oculos  insertse. 
Thorax  squamulis  depressis  vestitus. 
Abdomen  subrobustum,  ovato-conicum. 
Pedes  longi :  tibiis  anticis  spina  prope  apicem  munitis,  intermediis  posticisque  ad  apicem 
calcaratis,  his  dens^  squamulatis  et  in  medio  prseterea  bi-spinosis  ;  tarsis  5-articu- 
latis,  articulo  basali  longissimo  ;  unguibus  pulvillisque  minutis. 
Ala  sublanceolatse. 
'  Kt}kis,  galla  ;  (t>)s,  tinea. 
