Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Exotic Moths.djvu/136

114 the apex serrulated. Extension of the wings about an inch and three-quarters; length of the body one inch two lines. (Plate IX. fig. 4.) The female has more the appearance of a pupa than a mature insect, the three great divisions of the body being scarcely defined, and the whole enclosed in a tough envelope. Here exist neither spiral tongue (this, indeed, seems to be wanting in the male also), palpi, nor antennæ; the feet are spurious, very short, and destitute of claws. The eyes are rufescent; the general colour of the body brownish; the neck and anus clothed with wool-like hairs. (Plate IX. fig. 5.)

It may well appear surprising, under such circumstances, how the sexes can communicate with each other for the continuance of the species, the female being continually enclosed in the pupa case, which might be supposed to present an insuperable obstacle to the approaches of the male. The mode in which this is accomplished has already been hinted at; the ridge on the upper side of the thorax splits asunder, and such is the length and flexibility of the abdomen, and the peculiar construction of the organs of generation, that this suffices for the purpose. The insect appears to be plentiful in many parts of the West Indies, and is extremely injurious to fruit-trees in gardens. It is difficult to determine the proper relations of this moth; in its habits and