MELSHEIMER’S SACK-BEARER. 
415 
bits of sticks, about a quarter of an inch long, arranged 
transversely, and the cases were hung by a thick silken loop 
or rino; to a twio;: the lower end of these cases was filled 
with a large quantity of loose and very soft brownish floss- 
silk, which completely closed the orifice within. The male 
Oiketicus resembles a Zeuzera in the form and great length 
of its body, in the shape of its wings, and in its antennas, 
and in both the latter it resembles also the same sex of a 
Dryocampa^ particularly in its antennae, which are feathered 
on both sides on the lower part of the stalk, and are bare at 
the other end. The female has neither wings, antennae, nor 
le^is, and is said to remain always within its cocoon. Some 
years ago, a case or cocoon of an Oiketicus^ which was found 
on Long Island, was presented to me. It was smaller than 
the West Indian specimens, measuring only an inch and a 
half without its loop, and was covered with a few little sticks 
longitudinally arranged. It contained a female chrysalis, 
with the remains of the caterpillar. In Philadelphia and the 
vicinity, cases of a similar kind are very common on many 
of the trees, particularly on the arbor-vitae, larch, and hem¬ 
lock, which are often very much injured by the insects in¬ 
habiting them. These are there popularly called drop-worm% 
and haaket-worms. 
W e have in Massachusetts another sack-bearer, which 
does not appear to have been described, and differs so much 
both from Psyche and Oiketicus^ when arrived at maturity, 
as to induce me to give it another generical name. I there¬ 
fore call it Pcropliora Melslieimerii^^ Melsheimer’s sack-bearer 
(Plate YI. Fig. 5). A case of this insect, containing a 
living caterpillar, was brought to me towards the end of 
September, by a student of Harvard College, i\Ir. H. O. 
White, who found it on an oak-tree in Cambridge. This 
case (Plate YI. Fig. 4) was nearly an inch and a half long, 
* Named in honor of Dr. F. E. Melsheimer (the son of the Rev. F. V. Melshei- 
mer, the father of American Entomology, as he has been called), from whom I 
have received specimens of this insect, and its curious case. 
