120 
TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS . 
The engraving shows the tubes of the Psyche with the heads 
and fore parts of the bodies of the larvae projecting and the 
male moths flying about. Psyche fusca , which is common in 
England, covers its case with pieces of leaf and grass, which 
are put crossways. 
A closely allied kind, which belongs to the genus Fumea , has 
females which have legs and antennae, and it would appear that 
they emerge from the case after having escaped from the chrysalis 
condition, and sit on the outside. 
Very large Lepidoptera of the family of the Psychidce are found 
in America and in Australia, and one kind has a tube four or five 
inches in length, which it hangs on to trees with stout silken 
threads, so that very strong gales of wind produce little effect 
upon it. 
The remarkably defective development of the females of these 
families of the Bombycina is almost equalled by that of the 
larvae of the Cochliopodidce. These singular insects, of which Mr. 
Stainton says only two species occur in Europe, are unlike any 
others in the caterpillar state. In one the larvae are greenish 
with raised dots and a broad yellow stripe on the back inclining 
to reddish on the side, and they live on the oak, beech, and 
poplar trees, and are smooth : they have no legs. In the other, 
the legs are equally deficient, and the pupae of both kinds are 
found in a firm cocoon amongst leaves. The perfect insect flies 
entirely by day, and soon tatters itself. 
There are some interesting moths which, although they have 
very short antennae and a long abdomen, with some evidences of 
the presence of a short oviduct, are still classified among the 
Bombycina. They constitute the family Hepialidoe, and are found 
in considerable numbers in America, Africa, and Australia, but 
only rarely in Europe. The caterpillars feed on the roots of many 
plants, and never come into the light, and they are slim, elongated, 
and colourless. The largest of the European species is Hepialus 
hufnuli, commonly called the Ghost, and the wings of the males 
are snowy white in colour with brownish costae and fringes, whilst 
the females are decorated with wings of a dull yellow tint, and 
with brick-red bands. .The larva is pale in colour, and has a 
reddish-brown plate in front on the second segment, and lives 
