( 371 ) 


XIV. The Natural History of Oiketicus*, a new and singular 
Genus of Lepidoptera. By the Rev. Lansdown Guilding, B.A. 
F.L.S. 

Read June 6, 1826. 

I became acquainted with the animals here described on my 
return to the West Indies in 1817 : but though these interesting 
creatures have been attentively studied since that period, I have 
only within a few days been enabled to complete their history. 
There appeared so much of novelty in the structure of their 
females, that I was unwilling to present any notice on the sub¬ 
ject to the Linnean Society till all doubts had been removed. 
The larv<E being common on many of our trees, a considerable 
number were bred ; but I was always disappointed in my expec¬ 
tations of discovering the female insect. The male at the stated 
period made its appearance; but I never dreamt that its un¬ 
wieldy and almost motionless partner was to be searched for in 
the puparium, which it was destined never to desert. Judging 
from other insects, I hastily imagined that the female pupa had 
not been fully developed in consequence of the attacks of para¬ 
sitic Ichneumonidce. It was only by accident that a specimen 
uncased after the rupture of the thoracic carina, cleared up the 
mystery. When the pupa has slept the appointed time, the 
animal still resident within the liabitaculum formed by the 
larva, opens the carina by the motion of its head, and prepares 
to receive the winged male. Here again, another difficulty pre¬ 
sented itself. I was unable to ascertain how the sexual union 

* Nomen ab oixijrixof, qui habitacuhim qucerere solet. 

could 



372 Rev. L. Guilding on the Natural History of Oiketicus, 

could take place : for there was no appearance of an opening at 
the extremity of the pupariitm (Kirby), nor could I detect the 
reproductive organs in the thoracic portion of the body, which 
might have been approached inter nuptias. While engaged in 
pressing and examining the male organs under' the micro¬ 
scope, I discovered the extensile extremity of the penis, ad¬ 
mirably adapted by its extraordinary length and flexibility for 
the sexual intercourse, which appears to terminate in the de¬ 
struction of the male. It is highly improbable that the perfect 
insects have been seen in Europe; for no sooner has the male 
arisen from his pupal slumber, than he begins, even before the 
full expansion of his wings, to flutter about with so much vio¬ 
lence that his beauty has commonly disappeared before the en¬ 
tomologist can secure him. It is well known to the European 
naturalist, that the females of several Lepidopterous insects are 
nearly apterous: but I believe all at present described possess 
the rudiments of wings and antennae, with perfect feet. The 
female of Phalcena antiqua of Linn., which I have often collected 
when a boy, not only quits the folliculus, but, copula juncta, en¬ 
joys with its partner the pleasures of the open fields. Here, 
however, we have an animal which in its adult state is for ever 
excluded 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 ani¬ 
mated skin, or dies within the case. 

The young soon force their way out of the puparium which 
had served for the defence of the ova, and spreading about the 
tree (an innumerable host), prepare themselves an habitation 
before their first repast. 


Ordo. 


a nero and singular Genus of Lcpidoptera. 


37 3 


Ordo. LEPIDOPTERA. 

Tribus. NOCTU11NA. Lat. 

Genus. OIKETICUS. . 

Mas. Os simplicissimum, lingua aut nulla aut onmino intra os 
retracta. 

Labium partitum, rami apice squamosissitni. 

Abdomen extensile, elongatum. 

Gians penis longitudine corporis, extensilis, non retrac- 
tilis ? spinulis recurvis sparsis. 

Fcem. Imago semper pupicola, obesa, segnis, aptera. 

Aures? duae frontales, excavatae, indistinctae. 

Os simplicissimum. 

Lingua nulla. 

Palpi nulli. 

Antennce nullae. 

Pedes spurii, brevissimi, apice truncati. 

Unguiculi nulli. 

Thorax vix distinctus, segmentis quatuor? cute perga- 
meneA tectus. 

Ovarium fer& magnitudine abdominis. 

Pupa subcoarctata, carind thoracicd superiori mox de- 
hiscente ad marem recipiendum. 

larva obesa, pilis sparsis. MandibuleE validissimae. Ocelli plu- 
rimi. Labrum emarginatum. Antennulce setigeraa. Palpi 
duo apice appendiculati. Pedes sex validissimi ad januam 
claudendam (hostibus appropinquantibus). Propedes de¬ 
cern, duobus analibus. Coins (instrumentum textorium) 
extensilis, set& utrinque unicd, apice pcrforatus; dum pas- 
cit animal in fossuld gutturali reconditus. 


Habitaculum 


374 Rev. L. Guilding on the Natural History of Oiketicus, 

Habitaculum* cylindraceum, utrinque apertum, filis textum et 
ramulis foliisque morsis munitum. Larva rnetamorphosin 
subiens (apice semper aperto ad fugam imaginis masculm, 
et ad nuptias fceminae), januam clausam filis ad ramum de- 
ligat, capiteque prono somnum expectat. 

Pupa mascula fronte products adminiculis analibus duobus ma- 
joribus incurvis : segmentis abdominalibus serie unica spi- 
nularum incurvarum, unicfi recurvarum. 

Regio. India Occidentalis. 

Genus affine Zeuzerae? Lat. 

Typus genericus. Oiketicus Kir by i, Nobis. 

Oiketicus Kirbyi. 

<3. O. ater purpureo-nitens, alis superioribus elongatis: infe- 
rioribus angulo anali subproducto; antennis dimidiato- 
pectinatis apice serrulatis : tarsis rufescentibus : ore pal- 
lido. 

? . O. oculis rufescentibus : thoracis squamis corporisque squa- 
mulis vitellinis : collo anoque brunneo lanuginosis. 

l^arva obesa pedibus atris latissimis, propedum musculus retrace 
torius apice ferrugineo, spinulae prehensorite atrm recurvse. 
Corpus parcfe pilosum segmentis duodecim, lateribus pro- 
minulis : anterioribus tribus capiteque rotundato flavescen- 

* The habitaculum or dwelling of the larva of insects must be distinguished from the 
folliculus or cocoon, which is solely prepared for the defence of the pupa, and dosed on 
all sides. It is observed in the Tlneada and other insects, but is commonly of a flat¬ 
tened shape. In one Trichopterous r species known to me it is flattened ovate, open at 
the ends, and fixed to rocks in rivers. In a species of the family Boli/da which I have 
lately detected in vast numbers in our mountain streams, it is flattened, irregular, and 
attached by the margin and two pillar-like processes to the rocks below the surface of 
the water. It possesses a semicircular janua for the escape of the imago, and is fenes¬ 
trated on the margin. The larva of this curious moth breathes by tracheal branchiae !! 

tibus, 


375 


a new and singular Genus of Lepidoptera. 

tibus, brunneo pictis: reliquis obscuro-lividis. Trachea 
ferrusineae. Raro Ichneumonibus infestatur. 

Ovum rotundatum, parvum, flavicans. 

Pullus caudA erects, mox horizontali propter habitaculi pondus. 
Ab ovo erumpens extemplo folia scindit, filisque emissis 
domura format, formicas timens omnivoras feroces. 

Habitaculum maximum, fcemininum majus. 

Larva exterrita januam bursiformem mandibulis pedibusque ci- 
tissimfe claudit, ac sic filis paucis suspensa tutam manet. 

Pupa mascula elongata brunnea, segmentis abdominalibus fer- 
ru<dneo circulatis, fronte subcarinatd, dorso bisetoso. 

Pupa faminina concolor, obesa, adminiculis analibus asperis, 
segmento unico spinuloso, caeteris margine crenatis. 

Habitat hortorum pestis in Terminaliis aliisque arboribus vorax. 

In honorem amici G ! . Kirby, Soc. Reg. et Linn. Socii, Ento- 
mologorum Angliae ducis indefessi, oculatissimi. 

Ol KETICUS MaCLEAYI. 

(?. O. niger, alis lads rotundatis; antennis totis pectinatis : 
pene ferrugineo. 

? . O. flavescens, flavo lanuginosa. 

Larva caudd semper erecta: segmentis tribus anterioribus tho- 
racicis, capiteque flavis brunneo pictis; reliquis obscuris, 
verrucis elevatis pallidis sparsis. 

Var. (2. pallidior. 

Pupa mascula fronte products, segmentis antice sordidk-rufes- 
cen tibus. 

Pupafceminina vitellina, fasciis quinque nigris, ano simplici. 

Habitat larva inter ramos truncosque vetustos vix noxia : habi¬ 
taculum spinulis lichenibus pulchrk nonnunquam decorans. 

Tertia species ni fallor mox describenda. 

3 c 


VOL. xv. 


Amico 


376 Rev. L. Guilding on the Natural History of Oiketicus. 

Amico G°. S. MacLeay, Soc. Linn. Socio, naturae scrutatori 
doctissimo,—interpret celeberrimo, heecce species novi 
generis meritb dicatur. 

O 


EXPLICATIO TABULARUM. 

Tab. VI. 

Fig. 1. Oiketicus Kirbyi mas paululum auctus. a. Tarsus. 

Fig. 2. Penis glande longissimo, spinulis recurvis tectus ad 
arctiorem copulam. b. Penis lamella; supernb visae. 
c. Penis corpus corneum. cl. Penis inferne visus 
cum lamellis. e. Lamella lateralis cum appendice 
hirsuta. 

Fig. 2 b. Caput auctum palpis vi reclinatis. a. Antenna aucta. 

Fig. 3. Magnitudo naturalis. 

Fig. 4. Pupa mascula aucta. a. Pars auctus cum duplici 
serie spinularum clorsalium. 

Fig. 5. Aire cum fibula humerali in situ. 

© _ 

Fig. 6. Fcemina magnitudine naturali. a. Caput, b. Oculus*. 

Fig. 7- Eadem ad latus visa. a. Pes auctus. 

Fig. 8.8.8. Oviductus. 

Fig. 9- Pupa foeminina. a. Spinulae. b. Carina thoracica. 
c. Facies. 

Fig. 10. Puparii sectio ovis repleti. 


Tab. VII 

Fig. 1. Ova magnitudine naturali et aucta. 
Fig. In. Ova immatura, ovario extracta 


* In a single specimen something like the rudiments of antennae 
the eyes, as in this figure. 


were visible beneath 

Fig. 








