116 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



clined to side with the conclusions of our European colleague 

 in this matter, at least in the main. He has, however, at the 

 present time no opportunity to reach conclusive opinions on 

 these questions, which are essentially foreign to the science 

 of entomology proper- and the purpose of the present paper 

 is solely to deal with the structural questions. For con- 

 venience, therefore, the names of the genera have been adopted 

 as they are given by Beutenmuller* and as used in the present 

 American List.f 



The type of each conception is cited at the end of the article 

 and any other set of names can thus readily be substituted. 

 To further assist in this I have appended the principal synon- 

 ymy as used in (1) Meyrick's Handbook of British Lepidop- 

 tera, (2) Rebel, Cat. Lep. Europ., and (3) by Lord Walsing- 

 ham and Mr. Durrant, the latter of whom has kindly sent me 

 their opinions on the subject in full. 



As to the systematic position of the family I concur with 

 Meyrick in regarding it a derivative from the Hyponomeutid?e 

 and coordinate with the other true microlepidopterous families, 

 such as the Gelechiidse, Oecophoridae, etc. 



The writer has had some difficulty in using the synoptic 

 table of the genera in Beutenmuller's valuable Monograph,! 

 and ventures to publish the following, which may perhaps 

 also enable a more natural sequence of the genera. 



The difficulty in using the synoptic table in the Monograph 

 is augmented by the text figures of the venation, to which one 

 naturally refers for confirmation ; these figures are almost with- 

 out exception faulty and in some cases very misleading. To 

 cite some examples: Fig. 8 of Melittia satyrinifonnis lacks a 

 vein (3) in the hind wing; figs 9 and 10 of Gaea emphytifonnis 

 and of Enhagcna ncbraska: show veins 3and4 in the hind wings 

 connate instead of approximate; fig. 11 of Alcathoe caudata 

 shows one vein (10) too many in the fore wing and shares 

 the main fault of nearly all the other figures in showing vein 7 

 in the fore wing ending far down on the dorsal edge instead of 

 at or above apex. All of the genera except Melittia and Aegcria 

 (in the sense of Beutenmuller's monograph) have vein 7 in the 

 fore wing to or above apex. 



*Monograph of the Sesiids" of America, Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., 1901. 



fDyar, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 52, 1903. 

 ^Memoirs Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. i, part vi, 1901. 



