326 A. R. Grote's Notes on the Zygsenidx of Cuha. 



(Geometrician) or to the immediate vicinity of this latter family. 

 The coloration of Urania and Cydimon, is Zygaenid; since the species 

 are black with metallic red and green ornamentation. 



It may be hazarding too much to refer, from the mere acquaintance 

 with a figure, any genus to a decided position, but I am impressed 

 with the idea that the genus Epicopeia, WestwooJ, (Arcana Entomo- 

 logica, Plate 5,) belongs to the Zygaminai, as here considered, and that 

 this highly interesting form reproduces in a lower group the tendency 

 of the secondaries in Lepidoptera to become " caudate," or " bizarre" 

 in their shape. While mimicking Papilio, as has been interestingly 

 elucidated by Westwood, the weak corporal parts are characteristic of 

 those Zygaenid genera which become laden with Bombycid analogies.. 



The Zygamid sub-families, Castniares, Boisd, and Zygaeninae, Pack., 

 are susceptible of tribal division, which is required by the physical 

 structure of the moths, and will at the same time assist the compre- 

 hension of the genera. In the Castniares, the cenera clustering 

 around Castnia, Fair., of which the lowest North American genus is 

 Alypia, Iliibn., may be taken as composing the more typical tribe of 

 the sub-family; a secoud tribe will contain Eudryas, Boisd., and allies. 

 In the Zygaminae, several tribes remain to be elucidated, for which 

 my remarks may be of service to the classificator, but it will need an 

 extended acquaintance with the numerous genera of this sub-family to 

 indicate them with precision. In erecting groups higher than genera, 

 the neurational characters should not be solely relied on; when we 

 consider that the neuration is of comparatively no value whatever in 

 the lower Sub-Orders of Insecta, partially owing to the elytriform cha- 

 racter of the wings, we see at once, that the body characters are of 

 higher value for the purposes of a natural classification, and that the 

 details of the structure of the out-growths of the articulate auimalare 

 of a minor importance. 



To resume, the Zygaeninae become a strong feature in the Lepi- 

 dopterological faunas of the Tropics, displacing, as I have elsewhere 

 remarked, the Bombycida; to a grent extent; the proportionate ex- 

 pression of this latter family in the temperate zones, becoming here 

 reduced. In Europe, the Zygamiuan are represented principally by 

 the genus Zygaena, numerous in species and strongly characterized and 

 comprehensive in its physical and typical characters. Thus European 

 Lepidopterists often fail to understand the relation and position of the 

 varied Zygaenid forms from intertropical Asia, Africa, and our own 

 Continents, and are unwilling to recognize the numerous genera, with 





