BY R. J. TILLYARD. 679 



out this great group trachea? R24-3 and R i+5 arise from the main 

 stem of R as two separate tracheae, whose points of origin on 

 R are widely distant. This is a high specialisation, in quite a 

 different direction from that shown in the Psychina. But, owing 

 to the obliteration of the chorda or main stem of R4 +5 in 

 the imaginal venation, the result attained in the imago is not 

 unlike that to be seen in the Psychina, in that both groups show 

 no apparent radial cell. The basal cell of the Psychina is 

 merely that cell, without any additions; but the basal cell of 

 the Rhopalocera is an areocel, formed by fusion of the radial 

 cell or areole with the true basal cell. It will be seen from 

 Text-fig. 98 that it is impossible to determine which of these 

 conditions is truly present in Ehodoneura, and the same may be 

 said for Pyralididae. 



The solution of many interesting questions rests principally 

 on the type of Rs present in the pupal tracheation of the fore- 

 wing of the Thyrididae and Pyralididae. For there are many 

 authors who unite the latter family (together with its highly 

 specialised offshoots), into a single/series with the Psychina, 

 under the name "Pyrali-Zygaenoid Series"; though, it should be 

 noted, they do not always include the Thyrididae in this same 

 series. This latter family is placed by some in close relationship 

 with the Pyralididae, but by others it is removed far away from 

 them, and placed close to the Tortricina. Most interesting of 

 all is the claim made by Meyrick and Hampson that the Thy- 

 rididae are the ancestral group from which the Butterflies have 

 been derived (3, p. 326) . It is quite evident that the claims 

 of the Thyrididae to being the ancestors of the Butterflies, and 

 to being the close relatives of the Tortricina, on the one hand, 

 and to the Pyrali-Zygaenoid group on the other, are in some 

 measure conflicting. There will be no difficulty in deciding the 

 case for the Pyralididae, since pupa? of this family should easily 

 be obtainable; but for the Thyrididae it is quite another matter, 

 the family being confined to the Tropics, and very little being 

 known about the habits of the larva?. 



The BUTTERFLIES, or Superfamily RHOPALOCERA 



(PAPILIONINA) . 



The most archaic genus in this group is certainly Euschemon, 



which stands at the very base of the family Hesperiidae, and is 



the only Butterfly in which a frenulum is present in the male. 



A visit was made to Port Macquarie in January of this year, 



