112 OIKETICUS KIRBYI. 
only by accident that a specimen, uncased after the 
rupture of the thoracic carina, cleared up the mys- 
tery. When the pupa had slept the appointed 
time, the animal, still resident Avithin the habita- 
culum formed by the larva, was found to open the 
carina by the motion of its head, and prepare to 
receive the win<icd male. Here, therefore, v>e have 
an animal which in its adult state is for ever ex- 
cluded from the light, and never even beholds the 
mate to which it is indebted for its progeny. After 
impregnation, the female begins to fill the bottom 
of its puparium with her ova, closely packed in the 
down rubbed from her body, and having performed 
this duty, either presses herself through the thoracic 
carina, reduced to a shrivelled morsel of dried and 
scarcely animated skin, or dies within the case* 
The eggs are rounded, small, and yellow, and 
exist in very great numbers. As soon as hatched, the 
larvae force their way out of the puparium, spread 
themselves over the tree, and commence to prepare 
a habitation even before they have taken food. 
This habitaculum is cylindrical, open at both ends, 
and strengthened by small pieces of wood, gnawed 
leaves, &c. held together by interwoven threads. 
Under its protection the larva moves about much in 
the same manner as takes place with the Phryga- 
nidae. When young the tail is borne erect, but it 
soon becomes horozontal owing to the weight of the 
incumbent mass. The larva is thick and fleshy 
with broad black feet, the three pectoral pairs very 
* Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 372. 
