37 2 



The Moths and Butterflies 



frequenting flowers, and the different species are so much alike as to be 

 nearly indistinguishable to the amateur. The eggs are laid on leaves, or in 

 tiny pits in them, and the minute larvae, short and oblong, are either foot- 

 less and mine the leaf substance, or have eight pairs of abdominal legs and 

 feed exposed on leaves or in moss. The leaf-mining larvae burrow into the 

 ground to pupate, while the exposed feeders make a slight cocoon of silk and 

 debris above ground. The pupae are more like caddis-fly pupa? than the 

 usual lepidopterous chrysalids (another indication of the primitive char- 

 acter of the family), and those of certain species have large mandibles which 

 they use to cut their way out of the cocoon. The adults can best be dis- 

 tinguished by the venation of the wings (Fig. 525), and if ever found should 

 be highly prized by the collector as specimens of the most primitive living 

 Lepidoptera. 



The Hepialidae, the ghosts or swifts, although an offshoot from the 

 Micropterygidae, or at least much more nearly related to them than to 

 any other moths, are very different in appearance, being from an inch to 

 2^ inches long (some foreign species have a wing expanse of 6 inches) 

 with large broad-ended wings and rather heavy body. They can be recog- 

 nized by their venation (Fig. 526), which distinguishes them from all other 

 moths of their size. The mouth-parts are rudimentary, but the parts per- 



FIG. 525. 



FIG. 526. 



FIG. 525. Diagram of wing venation of Micropteryx sp. cs, costal vein; sc, subcostal 

 vein; r, radial vein; m, medial vein; c, cubital vein; a, anal veins. (After Corn- 

 stock; enlarged.) 



FIG. 526. Diagram of wings of Hepialus gracilis, showing jugum (;), and similarity of 

 venation in fore and hind wings. (After Comstock.) 



sisting indicate plainly that they are reduced remnants of a very simple set 

 of structures. The labium is free and truly lip-like and of the type of the 

 under lip of biting insects. Two genera, Sthenopis, four species, and Hepi- 

 alus, nine species, occur in this country. All of these moths are rather sombre 



