The Victorian naturalist . The method of progression of thecaterpillars is one of interest; andwhenever I watch this I always tendto imagine myself climbing a treewith a bag of cement tied to my drawings shown in Figure 1 illus-trate the foreleg movements. Afterthese leg movements the case is drawnupwards by a muscular contraction ofthe lower section of the body of thecaterpillar. This procedure is necessarily slow;but it is precise, and with very littlerisk of failure. On one occasion with aSaunders Casemoth, I recorded atime of 20 minutes for a climb of 3feet vertically, on the smoo
The Victorian naturalist . The method of progression of thecaterpillars is one of interest; andwhenever I watch this I always tendto imagine myself climbing a treewith a bag of cement tied to my drawings shown in Figure 1 illus-trate the foreleg movements. Afterthese leg movements the case is drawnupwards by a muscular contraction ofthe lower section of the body of thecaterpillar. This procedure is necessarily slow;but it is precise, and with very littlerisk of failure. On one occasion with aSaunders Casemoth, I recorded atime of 20 minutes for a climb of 3feet vertically, on the smooth trunk ofa eucalypt. The active caterpillar is abroadfor about one year, feeding and en-larging the case; and according toLeach in Australian Nature Studies, itis about February that the winglessfemale casemoth protrudes the endof her abdomen from the lower end ofthe case, is fertilized by the wingedmale, and deposits the eggs inside thecase. After five or six weeks, theemergent young lower themselves on July, 1968 201. 202 Vict. Nat.—Vol. 85 silken threads to the ground, spin forthemselves conical cases of silk lookinglike small dunces caps, and begin thecycle of events once more. During the winter, the case hangsfrom some support reasonably highabove ground. Quite often, one seesthe Saunders Casemoth suspendedfrom overhead wires or roof guttering. I have had the three species shownin the accompanying photographs,under observation since February have not (up to this date) movedfrom their positions which were takenup at the beginning of April. In factI have a feeling that there may be nofurther developments. However, if weare lucky enough to have chosen malesof the species, and maturity is reachedwith the emergence of the moth; weshall have the basis of another articlein this series, for the moths of theselarvae are not often noticed due totheir swift nightly flights, on whichthey batter themselves about in searchof a mate. Heres hoping.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdec, booksubjectnaturalhistory, bookyear1884
