Nov., 1925 
The (Queensland Naturalist. 
,V 
species, Thyridopteryx (Ilyalarcta) liubneri, the simple 
^^ilken balloon case is quite hidden under a dense sliinjjle 
cloak of pieces of tlie leaves of the ])lant on which it 
feeds. A"ain, in Metura (Oiketicus) elon^ata, 1ho 
dwelling of which is several inches long, also of the same 
strong silk, but covered with short pieces of twigs from 
half an inch to about an inch in length, Avhereas CMania 
ignobilis, another remarkable form, makes a cylindrical 
silken dwelling, and uses three or four sticks much 
longer than it, filling in with shorter pieces strongly 
interwoven between. 
Of the family Psychidae, to which these curious 
insects belong, are other genera and s])ecies Avhieh are 
Australian, though the family is probably cosmopolitan. 
A remarkable fact about the economy of these in- 
sects is that the female never leaves the pupa-shell, but 
the male is ])rovided with a long extensible abdomen so 
as to be able to reach inside the case for the purpose of 
fertilization of the female, the latter having no trace of 
wings, but is just a piqm-like bag of ova, which hatch 
out in her body, as in various bloAV-flies, emerging there- 
from, and passing out through the anal tube of the case 
to form their own habitations and carry on the Avork for 
which nature intended them. 
Of all these species, the shingled bag-moth is prob- 
ably the greatest pest about Brisbane, and foAV trees are 
exempt from its attacks. 
ITaAung cut open and examined the internal arrange- 
ments of the case of T. herrichii obtained by Mr. 
McKenzie, it Avas at once seen to be that of a female 
fiom the eggs of Avhieh young laiwae had escaped. The 
empty body (a shell) is surrounded by a soft but very 
strong Avhite silk, which fills up the entire cavity between 
the bod.y and case, being especially dense round the 
body of the insect. There is no evidence that the eggs 
are extruded from it into this pnvelo])ing silken mass. 
The extrusion, therefore, must be from the anal ex- 
tremity of the body into the tube and of living larA'ae, 
that are capable of passing through, as has been fre- 
(piently observed.^ 
Ib-ofessor McCoy, in the ‘‘Prodi'omus of tlie Zoology 
of Victoria,” states From observations made by Mr. 
*It is a moot point as to A\meither the female is or is 
not able to push her anal extremity into the tube, and so 
expand it to pass out the larvae from her body. 
