Article beginning on page 385.
Psyche 6:385-390, 1891.

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Psyche, 1893. Yol. 6,
Plate 9,




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PSYCHE.
COMMUNAL COCOONS AND THE MOTHS WHICH WEAVE THEM. BY W. J. HOLLAND, PH.D., PITTSBURGH, PENN. ["Annual address of the retiring president of the Cambridge Entomological Club, 13 January, 1893.1 One of the comparatively recent dis-
coveries in the field of entomological
investigation has been that of the curi- ous habit possessed by certain lepidop-
terous larvae of living in communities
and weaving for themselves a large
outer cocoon, or envelope, in which
they each subsequently spin a smaller
cocoon in which they undergo trans-
formation into the chrysalid state, and
from which they subsequently emerge
as moths. Thus far this habit has only
been observed in the hyponomeritid
genus Hyphantidium, the genera
Anaphe, Walk., and Hypsoides, Butl.
(Coenostegia, Mabille) , which have
been commonly referred to the Noto-
dontidae,* and the pyralid genus Coeno-
domus, Walsingham. To this list I
now have the pleasure of adding a lip-
arid moth from tropical West Africa,
for which I propose the generic name
Oecura, and which I shall specifically
designate by the name of its discoverer, the earnest and talented explorer, Rev.
Dr. Good, to whom I have in recent
* Probably more correctly referred to the Liparidae, years been indebted for many notable
acquisitions to my collection. I also
append the description of two new
species of Anaphe, from
the tropical
West Coast of Africa, A. clara, mihi,
and A. subsord/d(x, mihi (vide infra}.
The first reference which I have been
able to find to the curious habit to which I have made allusion is in an i -t" 1
I ic e com-
municated by Dr. Ch. Coquerel to the
Entomological society of France at its
meeting held Dec. 13, 1854, and pub-
lished in the Annales for the year 1855.T He alludes to the great cocoons as well
known objects, "On connaissait depuis
longtemps ces grandes poches de sole
qui garnissent souvent toutes les branches principales de plusieurs arbres de Mada- gascar appartenant pour la plupart a
la fainille de L4gumineuses ( Sutria +
/Vada.gascariensis, Mimosa Lebbek,
etc.) mais on n'avait jainais dkcrit les insectes qui forment ces cocons, avec
t Observations entomologiques sur divers insectes recueillis A Madagascar. 5me partie. Par M. Ie Dr- Ch. Coquerel, Annales de la Soc. ent. de France, 3me serie, vol. iii, p. 539 et sea.
$ Intsia Madagascariensis. " Sntfia" is a misprint.



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386 PSTCHE. [February 1893.
lesquels les Malgaches tissent des 6toffes remarquable par leur eclat et leur soli- dit6." He informs us that the cater-
pillars of Bombyx (Hypsoides) Rada-
ma, Coq., live after the manner of the
common European processionaries, and
after having woven in common an enor-
mous pouch which is often several feet
in length, each forms in its interior an individual cocoon, and there undergoes
the final transformation. The species
described by Coquerel in this paper are
Hypsoides JRadama, and H. Diego,
and Anaphe Panda, Boisd., the latter
from Natal, in reference to which Mons.
Coquerel remarks that it has the same
larval habits as the two Mascarene spe-
cies, and that its silk is employed in the same way by the natives of the country
in which it is found. Subsequently, in
1863, Dr. Coquerel and Mons. A. Vin-
son published another paper upon this
subject in the Bulletin de la Soci6t6
d'acclimatation et d'histoire naturelle de la Reunion, and followed it in 1866 by
a paper in the Bulletin of the French
Society d'acclimatation. The last article by Dr. Coquerel which treats
of the
subject is contained in the Annales of
the Entomological society of France for
1866, having been presented at the meet- ing of the Society held in July of that
year. This article is accompanied by a
plate representing the cocoons and outer cocoon-bag woven by H. Radama.
Meanwhile in 1859 Mr. A. W. Scott
published in the Proceedings of the
Zoological society of London a paper
in which he described a moth found in
New South Wales, which is referred to
the Hyponomeutidae, and to which he
gave the name Hyphantidiunz seri-
cearium. The social habits of the
larvae of this insect are remotely related to those of the Mascarene insects de-
scribed by Coquerel. The paper of
Mr. Scott is accompanied by a plate
giving anatomical details of Hyphan-
tidium. For seventeen years after the
publication of the last paper by Coq-
uerel, or from 1866 to 1883, nothing
appears to have been added to the liter- ature of this interesting subject, though Mr. A. G. Butler in 1877 and again in
1878 described a species of Anaphe,
the former from Ambriz, and the latter
from Old Calabar ; and in 1882 erected
the genus Hypsoides for the reception
of H. bi9ar.5, a new species from Mada-
gascar, strictly congeneric with Bombyx
Radama, Coq., and Bombyx Diego,
Coq. In 1883 Carl Fromholz published
an article in the Berliner entomolo-
gische zeitschrift (Band xxvii, pp. p
et seq.) , in which he gives an interesting account of the larval habits of AnapAe
$a+ Boisd., based upon material
which had been presented to the ento-
mological museum at Berlin by the
German savant and traveller, Dr.
Fischer, The paper is accompanied by
a plate upon which the larva and the
cocoon-bag of A. i>anda are depicted.
According to the information given by
Dr. Fischer the natives of the region
about sixty miles inland from Dar-es-
Salaam, where the cocoons were ob-
tained, report that the caterpillars
occupy the nest, which they weave as a
common home, for two years before




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February 1893.1
emerging as moths The nests, accord-
ing to the same authority, are collected by the blacks, and in times of want are
added to the stores of the native larder. The next contribution to the litera-
ture of the subject is the masterly
article by Lord Walsingham published
in the Transactions of the Linnean
Society for the year 1885, founded
largely upon material communicated to
the writer by Col. J. H. Bowker.
This article is profusely illustrated, and Walsingham describes and figures two
new species of the genus Anaphe,
A. infracta and A. carteri. Accoid-
ing to information given Lord Walsing-
ham by Col. Bowker, the natives of
South Africa use the silk of the cocoon- bags in cases of injury very much as
oiled silk is used by surgeons in more
civilized lands. Lord Walsingham
followed his paper upon the genus
Anaphe by a paper published in the
Transactions of the Linnean Society for
1887 upon Coenodomus Hock/?zgi&
Wls., a curious pyralid moth found in
the Punjab, which has larval habits
somewhat closely allied to those of the
African genera Anaphe and Hypsoides.
This paper is accompanied by a most
excellent plate, giving full details.
In 1888 Mr. H. Druce described in the
Proceedings of the Zoological society of London a new species of Anaphe from
Gambia, which he names after its dis-
coverer, A. Moloneyi. Mr. Druce says
that the cocoon of this species, which
had been presented to him by Capt.
Molone~, was "almost the shape of a
large pear, about five inches long, and
was found hanging from the branch of a
tree by a fine silken thread." He also
notes the fact that he had recently re-
ceived from Mr. A. Higgins a specimen
of the cocoon of A. infracta, Wls., ob-
tained at ^Ile Ife, about fifty miles in- land from Lagos, where they are very
common, hanging from trees." He adds
"The natives eat the larvae, which are
of a reddish brown color ; they fry them in palm-oil. Mr, Higgins informs me
that they are of a sweetish taste when
cooked. They also make use of the
silk, taking it from the cocoons, wash-
ing it, and furming it into hanks, which they sell in the market-places ; it is also made into rough cloths by the women."
The cocoon given to Mr. Druce by
Capt. Moloney yielded Mr. Druce about
sixty moths, and I am personally in-
debted to him for a fine suite of this
species now in my collection. Thus far
I have not received any specimens of
A w e infracta from any of those
persons, who have collected for me upon
the West African coast south of Cape
Lopez, but I have received several coc-
oons of A. Moloneyi, from one of
which, represented in the plate, about
eighty moths had emerged previous to
shipment. The last cocoon sent me
was delayed in transit, and upon open-
ing the tin box containing it, I found
the remains of a large number of moths
which had emerged and perished upon
the journey.
The cocoons of A. Moloneyi which I
have received have not been suspended
by a thread of silk, but are firmly fixed among the outer twigs of branches. The




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388 PSYCHE. [February 1893.
cocoon represented upon the plate is
6& inches in the major, and 3$ inches
in the minor diameter. The cocoon of
Oecura Goodii depicted upon the same
plate is flattish and was found attached to the trunk of a tiee, and superficially in form and color strikingly resembles
a reddish brown fungoid growth.
It is
6% inches long and 4+ inches wide upon
the longest diameters, and at the deepest point in the middle not more than I inch thick. Dissected across the middle its
section presents the form of an arc, the chord of which represents the base by
which it was attached to the bark of
the tree. The inner cocoons are less
than an inch in length and about one-
third of an inch in diameter, and are
arranged with the longer axis in a posi- tion vertical to the base in the middle, and as the outer circiiinference is reached with the longer axis sloping inwardly,
while just at the edge a few cocoons are disposed horizontally to the base. The
cocoons are very compact, and im-
bedded in layers of soft silk. The outer investiture or covering is composed of
several distinct layers and superficially is smoother and more compact than in
the cocoon of A. Moloneyi. When the
insect emerges from the inner cocoon it
has also to force its way out through the tissues of the external envelope, which
yield to the advance, but close again,
leaving hardly any trace of the perfora- tion. There is no common passage for
exit.
It is worthy of note that these insects
appear to be peculiarly subject to the
attacks of parasitic enemies. Fromholz
describes a lepidopterous parasite to
which he gives the name ZofJzodiofsis
hyaenella, and which from the descrip-
tion and figure I judge to be identical
with
the insect described by Coquerel
in 1885 as Chilo caymyex.
The same
insect is found upon the West African
coast. Walsingham figures a Tachina,
T. Onchestus, Walk., which preys
upon the larvae. I have a series of
Tachina which emerged from the co-
coons figured upon the plate, but which
do not appear to be identical with the
species named by Walker.
I append some extracts from the notes
sent me by Mr. Good.
No. 100. ( Oecura Goo& Holl.)
"March 7th, 189 I. Seven days ago,
March ist, my boy returned from down
river with the queer object labelled No. 100.
He found it attached to the trunk of
a tree and pulled it off. Three days ago I saw it first, and pulled off one of the cocoon cells. Cutting it open I found a
caterpillar about half changed to a chry- salis. They must only have just spun
up when they were discovered.
May 9th. Three moths came out in
the box in which this "comb" of cocoons
was kept. I thought they came from it,
but I could only find very small rents in its face, so I waited for more to emerge. No more came out till May I I th, when,
to make certain that they had not come
from something 1 had forgotten in the
ground at the bottom of the box in which they were, I turned out all the earth.
May 19th. Today two more of these




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February 1893.1
PSYCHE.
moths came out, but one had damaged
itself.
May 22nd. Another moth emerged.
May 231-d. Another moth hatched.
May 30th. Another moth has come
out.
A large number of flies, not moths,
(Tachina), also came out of th?s mass
of cocoons, each one of which had of
course destroyed a chrysalis. Two of
these I send pinned and numbered loo."
No. 121. ( A w e Moloneyi, Druce.)
'^Sept. 29tl1, 1891. This morning a
native brought me the cocoon numbered
I 2 I. I have seen several similar co-
coons before. I supposed this to have
been spun up by a single very large
caterpillar. I bought it and laid it down on my table till I could finish what I
was doing, when the boys called to me,
and pointed out that a moth had come
out, and there it was, creeping up the
wall, where it finally settled in order to allow its wings to develop. I now
realize that I have another multiple
cocoon like No. loo. There must be a
number of species which spin such
cocoons, for I have seen several others
like this one but differing in important particulars.
Oct. 5th. Four more of the moths
have hatched.
Oct. 6th. Three more came out today.
I remark that all of these moths so far
night.
1 at first thought these might
be day-flying moths, but they seem not
to be, as they do not stir all day long. As was the case with No. 100, so here,
a great many flies are emerging from
this cocoon. I should say two flies
come out for every moth. I send a
couple of them pinned and numbered
J 2 I ." (They are of the same species as that which emerged from the cocoon of
Oecura.)
"Oct. 24th. The flies have ceased to
emerge, but the moths are still coming.
At first mostly males came out, then
males and females,
later only females.
Three or four days ago I thought all the moths were out. All had apparently
come out of one side, that from which
the twig's project, and I supposed that
these were all that the nest contained.
But a day or two ago they began to
come out from the other side and today
four emerged, all males. I suppose the
females will come later." From the
dates on the envelopes it is plain that
this surmise was correct.
It only remains to be said that in the
economy of these insects we have a
wonderful illustration of instinct.
scarcely less remarkable than that dis-
played hy the bee, and especially won-
derful because exhibited by the insect in. its larval, and therefore immature, state. OECURA,* gen. nov.
have emerged from the cocoon between
Palpi minute, porrect, compressed, heavily - 9 and 10 A.M.
All African butterflies
clothed with short hairs, the third joint short come out in the morning from the
and clothed with hair to its tip, and almost lost in the hairy vestiture of the second joint.. chrysalis, and all moths so far as I have observed in the afternoon, or during the * Oi.~oupa = Domi rectrix.




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PSYCHE.
[February I &
The antennae of the male are moderately
short, heavily pectinated, of the female . equally long but less heavily pectinated. The pectinations are margined on both sides with delicate hairs and have a spur on the outer edge near the extremity. The legs are hirsute with two spurs upon
the tibiae of the last
pair. The abdomen in the male has two
minute tufts upon the dorsal line back of the thorax. The radial on the primaries and the secondaries springs from near the bottom of the cell. The primaries are subtriangular with the costa very moderately convex, or nearly straight for two-thirds of the distance from the base with the apex rounded and the outer margin evenly convex, the inner angle is rounded, and the inner margin slightly convex before the base. The secondaries are sub-pyriform with the outer margin evenly rounded. The prevalent coloration is obscure brown and gray. The larva is characterized by the habit of forming social cocoons, a multitude of individuals weaving a common covering of silk, which' is applied to the trunks of trees and similar situations and presents the appearance of a fungoid growth, within which each larva weaves a smaller cocoon in which it undergoes final transform- ation.
Oecwa Goodii, sp. nov. 8. Palpi, front
and collar dark brown. Antennae testaceous. The patagiae are brown margined externally and internally by a few grayish hairs, or scales. The upper part of the abdomen im- mediately back of the thorax is grayish, the remainder of the abdomen is pale brown with an ochraceous tint on the sides. The under- side of the thorax and the abdomen is obscure ochraceous. The legs are brown with the
tibiae and tarsi annulated with whitish. The primaries are dark brown with some greenish- gray markings near the base, a broad green- ish-gray spot on the inner margin near the middle succeeded by a transverse crenulate limbal line of black. The margin is marked on the interspaces with greenish-gray spots, which increase from the apex as far as the third median nervule, then diminish and
widen again to the outer angle, which is whitish. These spots are all marked on the middle by a narrow dark line. The fringes are dark brown checked with pale gray at the ends of the nervules, but at the outer angle the fringe is whitish. The secondaries are fus&us with an obscure discocellular mark and a submarginal transverse band.
The fringes are as on the primaries from the outer angle to just before the anal angle, at which they are uniformly gray. The under side is pale fuscous with the middle area of the primaries clouded with pale fuliginous. Both wings have an obscure discal dot at the end of the cell. Both are traversed from the costa by an incomplete brownish transverse median line. The primaries have in addition