THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 18< 



Psyche confederata Gr., now described in almost all its stages. The life- 

 history of almost any species in this group will be found replete with 

 curious facts, and instances of parthenogenesis are recorded among the 

 European genera. The moth Phryganidia californica Pack., is appar- 

 ently incorrectly described as belonging to this sub-family, and Butler 

 refers it to the Dioptidce, a group not studied by me. The Psyc/iince occur 

 in the West Indies, and South America ; the genus Oiketicus also in 

 Ceylon. This group seems to be, with the Cochliince, of very general dis- 

 tribution, and to belong to the older forms of the family, retaining perhaps 

 some characteristics of a primitive form of the moths. It may even be 

 that the cocoon or sack was, in past geological ages, more common as a 

 part of larval habit, and that it was later on restricted to the pupal con- 

 dition. The Sphingidce and groups making no cocoon may have been 

 thrown off from the genealogical tree of the Lepidoptera at later periods. 

 In North America there seem to be but few species of Psychince, gener- 

 ally distributed ; the genus Oiketicus being tropical and sub-tropical, 

 Platceceticus a Floridian form, the other genera ranging from Canada to 

 the Southern States, while from the west a few species belonging to the 

 more typical section of the sub-family have been indicated. The broad, 

 falcate-winged genera seem to belong east of the Rocky Mountains, and 

 are reported from the region east of the Andes in South America. Hence, 

 their distribution is paralleled by that of the Ceratocampince. 



Sub-family Notodontince. 



Although we have found some reasons for our sequence of the preced- 

 ing groups, there is here somewhat of a break. For instance, the 

 Sarothripince, JVo/ince, Chloephorince, make a similar cocoon ; in the two 

 first the labial palpi are elongated. The Lithosiina resemble these more 

 or less in form and the absence of ocelli, but their colors and shorter palpi 

 are more like the succeeding Arctiince ; again the Dasychirince resemble 

 the latter in their hairy larvae and style of pupation. There is an approxi- 

 mation to the Cochliince in the Dasychirid genus Lagoa, and the Cochliince 

 and Psychince approach by the rudimental abdominal feet of the larvae ; 

 but the Notodontince, although they fit in with succeeding groups, differ 

 greatly from the Psychince. I have described a Psychid genus from Cuba, 

 which has something of the Notodontid form, which is that of the Noc- 

 tuidae, and which latter several genera of this group greatly resemble. 

 Indeed, there seems to be some doubt as to whether the genus Edema is, 



