418 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



allied group, all having flat eggs except the EpiplemicUe, which 

 parallel the Noctuidae in this respect. Tutt places the Thyatiridae on 

 the Geometrid stem, but they seem to me to have certain Notodont 

 and Noctuid affinities. The eggs show a certain suggestion of the 

 vertical type and tubercle iv of the larvae is somewhat specialized. 

 I formerly placed the Melalophid Notodontiae with the Euptero- 

 tidae, but Ihis is contradicted by the eggs. I infer from Tutt that 

 the Eupterotid egg is of the flat type, while the Malalophid egg is 

 of the vertical type and in Apatelodes highly specialized. I have 

 transferred the Lymantriidae to the Notodontian stem on the 

 characters of the eggs, though I am not sure that this is their 

 best pi-ice. In the Eupterotidae, Bombycidae, Lasiocampidae, 

 Melalophae, and Lymantriidae, all of those larvae which have de 

 veloped warts, there are three warts on the thorax above the stig- 

 matal wart This is a low character and shows the same type of 

 wart formation as in those Micro families which have warts (ex 

 cept the Pterophoridae and Nolidae, which in this respect parallel 

 the Arctian phylum, having but two such warts). The rest of the 

 tree comprises the Arctian phylum. The only change that I have 

 made here is to separate the group formerly called Apatelidae 

 into Apatelae and Pantheinaa, separately derived from different 

 points in the Noctuidaa. 



The paper was discussed at length by Messrs. Gill, Matthis, 

 Dyar, Ashmead, Ulke, and Howard, the discussion taking the 

 direction of a consideration of the value of the egg stage in the 

 classification of insects. 



Mr. Ashmead, referring to the position of the spiracles, stated 

 that this character is very valuable in the parasitic Hymenoptera. 

 The slightest variation in the position of the spiracle and in its 

 shape is of great importance. As to the eggs, he referred to the 

 careful descriptions and figures given by Scudder of the eggs of 

 butterflies and called attention to the characteristic forms of the 

 eggs in the different groups of Heteroptera, in which order 

 families, and in some cases genera, are readily distinguished by the 

 egg. Natural groups will generally be found to have character 

 istic eggs and larvae. 



Dr. Dyar said that while Scudder deserves great credit for his 

 egg studies, to Dr. Chapman, of England, is due the credit for 

 the important generalization regarding upright and flat eggs. 



Dr. Gill doubted the great value of the eggs in a consideration 

 of the genealogy of insect families. It is true that the shape and 



