110 OIKETICUS KIRBYYI. 
liind wings are almost entirely covered by the very 
broad central cyaneous mark, and there are also 
several spots on the hinder margin. The expanse 
of the wings varies from three to four inches. 
OIKETICUS* KIKBYI. 
PLATE IX, 
Lansdown Guilding^ in Linn. Trans., vol. rv. p. 37 1. 
Tins insect, as well as that next described, was 
first made known to entomologists by the Kev. 
Lansdown Guilding, in a paper read to the Linnean 
Society of London on the 6th June 1826, and 
published in the fifteenth volume of their Transac- 
tions. Its economy is so remarkable that it has 
ever since excited attention, and its history can 
scarcely fail to be read with interest. The most 
curious circumstance is that the female is entirely 
apterous, that she never leaves the puparium, but 
there receives the male and produces her eggs, after 
which she soon dies. 
Various moths exist, both in this and other coun- 
tries, the females of which are apterous; such as 
* Named firom 9.»»jTi*»f qui hahitaculum qvcsrere solei. 
