436 



LEPIDOPTERA 



CHAP. 



veins. There are 110 mandibles, but there is a short, imperfect 

 proboscis. Larva (Fig. 210) without any legs, mining in leaves. 

 The pupa (Fig. 211) is not a pupa obtecta, but has the head 

 and appendages free, and it provided with enormous mandibles. 

 Although these Insects in general appearance resemble Erio- 

 cephala to such an extent that both have been placed in one 

 genus, viz. Micropteryx, yet the two forms are radically distinct. 



The most remarkable 



\ / 



point in Micropteryx 

 is the metamorphosis ; 

 the female moth is 

 furnished with a cut- 

 ting ovipositor, by the 

 aid of which she de- 

 posits an egg between 

 the two layers of a 

 leaf after the manner 

 of a saw-fly ; l the larva 

 mines the newly-opened 

 leaves in the early 

 spring, and feeds up 

 with rapidity ; it by 

 some means reaches 

 the ground, and there 

 pupates in a firm but 

 thin cocoon, with grains 

 of earth fastened to it ; 

 in this it passes the 



greater part of its life 

 IIG. 211. Papa, of Micropteryx (semipurpurella f). A, ' 



Dorsal aspect ; B, C, D, views of head dissected oft' ; as a larva, changing to 

 B, profile; C, posterior, D, anterior aspects; m, .-, -,., -1^1-^7 nvlv 



-i . -i i -.-. . t.1 l_/ LI I..' 1 1 \ Cl. y CCl'l. AT J. J.J. 



mandibles. Britain. L J J 



the following spring. 



The pupa is unlike any other Lepidopterous pupa, but is similar 

 to those of Trichoptera ; neither the head nor the appendages 

 are glued to the body or to one another, but are free, so that 

 the pupa can use the appendages to a considerable extent; it is 

 furnished with enormous mandibles (Fig. 211, C, D), which are 

 detached and shed after emergence. 2 In the interval between 



1 Wood, Ent. May. xxvi. 1890, p. 148. 

 - See Chapman, Tr. cut. Soc. London, 1893, p. 255. 



