OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XIX, 1917 31 



The hindwings of the Lepidoptera taken as a whole, except the 

 Micropterygidae, from which all the genera in this family are 

 believed to have been derived, are characterized by a very simple 

 neuration along the costal area of the wing. Two branches only 

 were formerly supposed to remain, 7 terminating near the apex 

 and 8 reaching the costal margin nearer the base. In a paper 

 read by Busck before this Society in 1909 1 attention was called 

 to the fact that the genus Cycnodia Herrich-Schaffer has three 

 branches to the costa, vein 7 having two branches to the costa 

 near the apex. At this time the author of the paper proposed 

 the erection of a superfamily to be called the CYCNODIOIDEA, to 

 include genera descended from this nine veined ancestor. A few 

 years ago the present writer's attention was called to some pecu- 

 liarities in the venation of Ornix, as shown in Stainton's figures in 

 Vol. Ill of the Insecta Britannica. Further investigation, with 

 the assistance of Mr. Busck, showed the existence of species of 

 both Ornix and Gracilana which appeared to possess an extra, 

 or 9th, vein in the hindwings. These facts were interpreted by 

 Busck 2 as confirming the belief in the separate family rank of the 

 Gracilariidae a belief which had formerly rested almost wholly, 

 upon larval characters. It may be pointed out in this con- 

 nection that Cycnodia, as noted by Busck, while derived from a 

 form having nine veins in the hindwing, does not show the same 

 type of neuration as Gracilaria. In Cycnodia it is a vein near 

 the outer portion of the wing which has persisted, while in Graci- 

 laria it is one near the base of the wing. Judging from the posi- 

 tion of vein 11 in the forewing it is probably the homologous vein 

 which has been retained in the hindwing. Spuler 3 in his excel- 

 lent figures shows this vein, and the interpretation appears to 

 be the same, in regard to which vein has persisted, though he 

 treats the matter somewhat differently. This interpretation if 

 correct would seem to indicate that the family under consideration 

 is an old one, instead of recent as stated by Meyrick. 4 



The hindwing of a species of the genus Gr<ici.!(irf.<i presents a 

 type of venation which is fairly constant within the genus, and is 

 more or less closely approached by other genera within the 

 family. The most striking characters appear to be llie open cell, 

 between 4 and 5, and the relation existing between 7 and 8. 

 Vein S reaches the costa not far from the base, where it fuses 

 with it at a point where the costa drops sharply downward, pro- 

 ducing the characteristic hump with which the hindwing in this 



1 Husck, Proc. Kill. Snr. \V:isli.. Vol. XI. p. !>_'. 



2 Busck, Proc. Ent, Soc. Wash., Vol. XVI, p. 52, 1!)14. 

 Spuler, Schmet. Eur., Hand 2, p. 410, 1910. 



* Meyrirk, Gen. Ins., 128, p. 3, 1012. 



