412 DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN MICRO-LEPIDOPTERA, 



for more significant titles, but though sometimes sorely tempted, 

 I have not ventured to carry out a principle so liable to abuse. 



Of other authors, Lewin, Newman, and Zeller have described 

 one or two species each, which I have determined as far as 

 practicable. E elder in the ' ; Reiseder Novara " has figured 

 several species, principally from New Zealand ; the figures are 

 very poor and frequently quite unidentifiable, but all those which 

 I have been able to determine are synonyms of species previously 

 described by Walker. Butler has also described a few species, 

 of which I have included those of which I have seen the types in 

 the British Museum collection ; they seem to have been invariably 

 referred to wrong genera, after the example set by Walker, but 

 are mostly distinct species. 



The classification of the Tortricina has usually been regarded 

 by European writers as a task of unusual difficulty, their know- 

 ledge being confined to the European fauna. It is true that, 

 until the publication of the systems of Lederer and Heinemann, 

 all schemes proposed were scientifically quite valueless. I am 

 disposed to think, however, that the difficulty of the group has 

 been somewhat exaggerated. The general character of the 

 markings, colouring, and form of wing is so uniform throughout 

 the group, and restricted within such narrow limits of variation, 

 that the same, or an extremely similar, superficial facies often 

 recurs in distinct genera ; which has fostered an erroneous belief 

 that the structural points of generic distinction were misleading 

 and insufficient. Moreover the structure of the head and palpi, 

 which in the Tineina affords so ready a means of classification, 

 in the Tortricina presents usually but few and unimportant 

 differences. The best generic characters are afforded by the 

 neuration, which I have always found a very trustworthy guide ; 

 the basal pectination of the lower median vein of the hindwings, 

 the structure of the antennae, and the presence of a costal fold in 

 the male, are also points on which much stress may be safely 

 laid. In the case of the Australasian species I have found no 



