Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Exotic Moths.djvu/133

Rh those of the genus Psyche, Fumea, &c. "The male larva of Psyche," says Mr. Westwood, "previously to assuming the pupa state, fastens its case by the mouth to the surface of leaves and the stems of plants; the larva then turns, so that its head is pointed towards the opposite aperture, out of which the pupa half pushes itself before becoming an imago; the females, on the other hand, never leave their cases; and from some observations made by Ochsenheimer and Ingpen, it would appear that these females produce fertile eggs without impregnation." There is therefore, a striking analogy between these insects and Oiketicus, although many points remain in which they materially differ. Mr. Guilding states that he became acquainted with these animals on returning to the West Indies in 1817; but although he had attentively studied them, he was unable to complete their history for many years afterwards. The larvæ being common on many different kinds of trees, were bred in considerable numbers, but he was long disappointed in discovering the female insect. The male, at the stated period, made its appearance; but he never dreamed that its unwieldy and almost motionless partner was to be searched for in the puparium, which it was destined never to desert. Judging from other insects, he imagined that the female pupa had not been fully developed in consequence of the attacks of parasitic ichneumonidæ. It was