LEPIDOPTERA HETEROCERA. 719 



wings much reduced. The elongated larvae have lost the anterior four 

 pairs of pro-legs, and retain only a pair on the ninth abdominal segment 

 and the anal pair, and as a consequence they "loop" when moving, 

 being apt to assume a position in which the front and hind end of the body 

 is supported whilst the centre rests without support. The cocoons are 

 slight, in many cases absent, the pupa being naked and subterranean. 

 The family is cosmopolitan. Geometra, Nemoria, Phorodesma, lodes, 

 Hemithea are amongst the British representatives. 



Fam. 43. Noctuidae. Sombre moths with proboscis and frenulum. 

 The fourth and fifth radials of the fore-wing arise from the third, and this 

 has a cross-nervure linking it with the second. This is the dominant 

 family of the Heterocera, with some eight thousand species. As the name 

 implies they are night-flyers, and they are provided with complicated 

 organs at the base of the thorax to which a sensory function has been 

 attributed. The larvae share the nocturnal habits of the perfect insect ; 

 usually they have ten pro-legs, but one or two pairs may be wanting. 

 These larvae are the cause of immense damage to crops in America, 

 amongst the more destructive species being the " Army worm " Leucania 

 unipunctata, the " Cotton-worm " Aletia xylinae, the " Boll-worm " 

 Heliothis obsoleta (armigera) and others. The pupae may be naked and 

 buried in the earth or enclosed in a cocoon made of vegetable frag- 

 ments. The family is cosmopolitan. British genera include Agrotis, 

 Noctua, Triphaena, Marnmestra, Hadena. 



Fam. 44. Epicopeiidae. Antennae bipectinate in both sexes. The 

 cell in each wing is crossed by a nervure which in the fore-wing is forked. 

 The maxillary palps are very small. The moths of this small family of 

 seven or eight species, all united in the single genus Epicopeia, are very 

 like some swallow-tailed butterflies of the Papilionidae. The caterpillars 

 have dermal glands which secrete a snow-white waxy substance. They 

 are rare and live in Java, Japan, China and India. 



Fam. 45. Uraniidae. No frenulum. The fifth radial of the fore-wing 

 unites with the first median, and in the hind-wing a single anal nervure 

 is usually found. Antennae filiform. A small family of six genera and 

 some sixty species, with large wings often " swallow-tailed." The larvae 

 have ten pro-legs and bear sharp tubercles on each segment. The pupa 

 has its first maxillae prominent and ends in a spine. The family is tropical. 

 Urania is one of the most beautiful of the Lepidoptera. Several species 

 have a very curious structure in the abdomen, consisting chiefly of two 

 apertures, one on either side of the second segment, each leading into a 

 large cavity extending almost to the middle line. 



Fam. 46. Epiplemidae. F"enulum pres?nt. The sub-costal of the hind- 

 wing is free from the radial, and the fifth radial, of the fore-wing arises ;is 

 a twig from the first median. The hairy larvae have ten pro-legs. Like 

 the Uraniidae, they have a peculiar sense-organ at the base of the abdomen. 



Fam. 47. Pyralidae. The second median of the fore-wing arises from 

 the cell nearer to the third than to the first : there are two anal nervures 

 in the fore-wing and three in the hind-wing, where the sub-costal ap- 

 proaches or touches the radial. Antennae usually simple, legs often lon.u. 

 The Pyralidae form a very large family of small moths. The proboscis 

 is often very long. The larvae have ten pro-legs with complete circlets 

 of hooks; they are usually naked with a very few scattered hairs, and are 

 unattractive and as a rule concealed in rolled up leaves or vegetable 

 debris ; a few are aquatic. The pupae have but two free segments and 



