118 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS |xxxii, '21 



the derivation of its venation from a more generalized 

 Lyonetiid type. This is still more strikingly shown in Hclicc 

 constrictclla, which, on the basis of empirical characters alone, 

 would be and has been placed in the Cosmopterygidae. It is a 

 Gelechiid, as shown by conservation of Gelechiid characters 

 in the female only of another member of the same genus. 

 This example is all the more .significant, as the Gelechiidae 

 are usually easily recognized by very definite characters, and 

 emphasizes the need of a thorough study of all the characters 

 of an organism for an understanding of its relationships. 



The necessity of such a thorough study of an organism in 

 order to determine its real phylogenetic relationship is shown 

 nowhere better than in the Microlepidoptera. Families in the 

 Microlepidoptera are often not distinguished by any rigid 

 characters, although a combination of characters may be used 

 in definition, but rather by certain general tendencies in evo- 

 lution. Definite progressive changes, once initiated, continue 

 until we find that the end product, /. c., the most specialized 

 member of a group, may be so different, that without a 

 knowledge of the intervening phylogenetic changes, as shown 

 by a study of homologies in existing connecting forms, we 

 would never guess its relationship to the more primitive 

 members of the same group. 



A new method of classification for the Microlepidoptera is 

 coming to the front. It is the science of genitalia. While there 

 is no objection to the use of these characters in specific differen- 

 tiation, or in larger group classification if used in combination 

 with other characters, are these characters of such pre-eminent 

 value that they can be used unsupported or in opposition to 

 the testimony of other characters? It may eventually be 

 possible to identify any Microlepidopteron by the male geni- 

 talia, but that is not the object of scientific classification, which 

 seeks to show by its system of grouping, the phylogeny of 

 the* organism as a whole. Though the science of genitalia is 

 still in its infancy, it may be necessary some day to turn our 

 males around in our collections and let them travel backward. 

 This new science will not classify the females, so it is a pleasant 

 reflection in these days of equal suffrage to know that the- 

 females will still look forward. 



